Earthquake rebuild will happen - but it may not be quick

Workers demolishing a two-story building facade, damaged in the earthquake, on Columbo Street, Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Saturday's Christchurch earthquake may provide a kick-start for a depressed construction sector, but it will be months or even years before homeowners see the results.

Industry leaders spoken to said they were confident they had the resources to pull together and help in the rebuilding and repair of homes affected by the earthquake, but that people's expectations needed to be managed to ensure they understood the process involved.

While the Government is giving consideration to speeding up the building and resource consents process, with the possibly that building consents could be given in retrospect, the process would still take time.

"History says some people won't start rebuilding for a couple of years, some will start in probably the next few months and it will be progressive but it won't be fast," Fletcher Building chief executive Jonathan Ling said.

"It's about managing expectations (so that people won't think) the insurance companies will come in tomorrow, the designers will come in the day after, the consent will happen the day after that and we will be building within a couple of weeks."

Registered Master Builders Association chief executive Warwick Quinn said while he was certain extra tradespeople would be needed, the extent of the demand was still to be determined.

"There is already talk of 100,000 homes that have been affected, but we don't know if that's 100,000 major problems or 10,000 major problems and 90,000 smaller ones."

The bright side, if there was a bright side, was that the earthquake had come at a time when the sector was in a much better position to respond, Quinn said.

"If we were flat out as we were three years ago, we would really struggle to produce both the people and the materials," he said.

While there would be some pressure on building materials, the sector should be able to ramp up supplies quickly.

A spokesperson from Metro GlassTech said the quake had caused significant damage to its glass stock, but that there was plenty of stock in transit to cope with any extra demand, as a result of the earthquake.

The Department of Labour's construction Sector outlook report shows construction employment fell five per cent from 190,000 to 181,000 in the two years to June last year.

Meanwhile Statistics New Zealand figures released last month show the small recovery in the residential sector that occurred in late 2009 and earlier this year had hit a plateau.

Ling said: "from a business point of view and building material supply we are expecting things will slow down for a few months before they pick up and when they pick up it will be gradual."

Meanwhile Consumer New Zealand is warning homeowners to be careful when undertaking repair work, that they employ reputable builders, after concerns "cowboys" could add to homeowners misery by doing substandard repair work on homes.

"If someone does work for you, don't pay up front and if you can get a written quote do so," a Consumer New Zealand spokesperson said.

"Reduced rates and cash will be the concern because if they do a shoddy job there will be no way of tracking them down."

The consumer should also look for someone with an established address and landline number as a safeguard, and get more than one quote, Consumer New Zealand said.