His renovations and extensions to a large Devonport villa were nearing completion but not without a hitch.
"We struck a lava flow from Mt Cambria when we were digging out the basement," said Levick of Priority One Construction, describing how volcanic rock was dug out then trucked off during a fortnight's tough basement excavation which kicked off when the builders drove a digger on to the sloping site through the back garage wall. Excavating beneath the old house created space for five new rooms.
Christina Leung of ASB said the house-building recovery looked set to continue, underpinned by Canterbury.
"However, recent activity indicators suggest some patchiness in rebuilding, with firms in the construction sector noting weak activity more recently," Leung said.
But the steady gradual improvement in building consents added to confidence that construction activity would pick up over the coming year.
"We expect rebuilding activity will gain further momentum later this year."
