Builders flat out ahead of Christmas with $30 million of consents in three months

Many builders say they have a steady stream of work booked going well into 2017. PHOTO/FILE

Rotorua builders are busy heading into the Christmas season as new figures show almost $30 million worth of building consents have been issued in the past three months.

And while many have a steady stream of work booked into 2017, top of their Christmas wish lists is for more land to build on.

One builder, John Stevens from John Stevens Homes Ltd, said he was getting calls "at least once a week" from people looking for land.

It comes as Rotorua Lakes Council figures for November showed a jump in the value of residential consents issued, up 61 per cent from November 2015 to $6.4 million.

In the three months from September to November $29.5 million worth of consents were issued with $15.1 million of those for residential projects and the remaining $14.4 in commercial consents.

Of the residential consents in November, 16 were for new dwellings worth $5.2 million.

Mr Stevens said his company was busy but a lot of the work was out of town because there simply wasn't the land in Rotorua for new builds.

He said he got calls "at least once a week" from people wanting to know where they could buy land to build a house. Most were from out of town, he said.

"People are ringing all the time."

He said the big hope for 2017 was that some of the proposed subdivisions would eventuate.

Rotorua Master Builders Association spokesman Bill Clement said the lead-up to Christmas was always a busy time as people rushed to get jobs done ahead of the festive season.

He was expecting to be busy until later in 2017 with jobs booked, although there was always some room to take on new jobs.

Mr Clement said there was quite a bit of renovation work.

"I know everyone is pretty busy. It is always like this at this time of year."

He said most of those in the industry were feeling "pretty good".

"This year has been pretty busy but it looks like it will flow on to next year. All the builders I've spoken to seem to be reasonably busy and looking forward to getting stuck in next year as well."

Dial a Builder Ltd director Roy Peden said it had been the busiest time since he came to Rotorua in 2007.

"I'm flat out until Christmas with jobs to come back to."

He said this year had been the first time he'd returned from the Christmas break with work lined up to go on with.

Mr Peden said he had work booked through until April, possibly further ahead.

A lot of the work was renovations, and Mr Peden said there was still a need for sections for new builds although they were starting to see people subdividing properties.

BY THE NUMBERS
- In November 66 consents were issued, worth $7.1 million.
- The bulk of November's consents, 57, were for residential worth $6.4 million.
- Nine commercial consents were issued in November worth $0.7 million.
- In the three months to end of November $29.5 million worth of consents were issued.
- 217 residential consents worth $15.1 million were issued over the three months.
- $14.4 million worth of commercial consents made up of 45 consents were issued in the three months.
Rotorua Lakes Council