If your roof is leaking, your furnace is broken or you need a new gas fire installed, you may have to wait for a tradesperson.

New Zealand's biggest listed company, Fletcher Building, could be hurt by the Budget move to axe temporarily anti-dumping duties on building materials covering 90 per cent of a new home's construction, say experts.

Jobs and companies could be lost if masses of cheap overseas construction materials flood our boarders, say building companies.

NZ shares rose yesterday, led by Goodman Property Trust, after the property investor said full-year net profit rose 72 per cent. Trade Me and Xero paced the gains while Ryman Healthcare fell ahead of reporting earnings today.

Carter Holt Harvey, which sold its pulp, paper and packaging businesses last month, more than tripled gross margins at its Australian building supplies in 2013.

Sometimes, good fortune arrives disguised as disaster. That's what happened on Karangahape Rd in central Auckland.

Australian housing construction approvals have dipped in the past couple of months, but are still at 19-year highs.

Building consents for residential housing rose to a six-and-a-half year high in March, snapping two months of decline.

Alice the tunnel-boring machine sometimes seems to work at its own pace.

A real estate agency boss has backed a call this week by finance minister Bill English to relax rules designed to stamp out so-called "shoebox apartments".

BlueScope Steel, Australia's largest steelmaker has gained antitrust approval to acquire Fletcher Building's Pacific Steel in a $120m deal.

Finance Minister Bill English has hinted at changes in the Budget to make it easier for housing developers to build smaller and cheaper.

New Zealand tech stocks led the local market higher in morning trade, snapping a two-day decline as investors returned to tech and biotech stocks.

One of the world's biggest and oldest insurers is underwriting a new building warranty insurance scheme being launched in New Zealand.

New Zealand's crane population is booming with 71 up, compared to just 10 two years ago.

The country's busiest house builder expects to put up a third more homes this year and could build more than 1000.

The Australian home building sector is still going quite strong despite an across-the-board fall in building approvals figures for February, economists say.

Franchisees at the country's biggest house builder remain dissatisfied with Auckland Council, despite claims of more speed and efficiency.

New Zealand building consents for residential housing fell 1.7 percent in February, the second straight monthly decline.

Around $47,000 could be shaved off the cost of each new place built in factories under Labour's planned KiwiBuild 100,000-house scheme, an opposition spokesman says.

Carter Holt Harvey has agreed with the Commerce Commission that it should pay a $1.85m penalty for its part in a timber price fixing cartel with a division of Fletcher Building.

Many businesses think the raising of the official cash rate by the Reserve Bank was precipitate.

The long-vacant ex-Auckland Star site between Fort St and Shortland St could soon get a carpark.

Fletcher Residential has approval to create 479 housing lots or sections in seven stages on the Manukau Golf Course.

NZ's largest construction company will bring some of the world's biggest builders here for the $4 billion-plus new public private partnership contracts it wants to win.

The construction of the motorway interchange at the northern end of Auckland's new Waterview connection has moved a step closer to completion.

Building activity slowed in the final three months of 2013 as non-residential work dropped for a second quarter.

A house construction rebound here and in Australia, the earthquake rebuild and cost-cutting will boost operating earnings Fletcher Building's interim result.