Blenheim's housing boom puts pressure on builders and subcontractors struggling to find skilled staff
Category: Latest News
25 Jul 2016
Builders and tradespeople in Marlborough are having to turn away work because of a shortage of trained staff and high demand for new builds.
Laser Electrical Blenheim managing director Brendon Adams says there is a nationwide shortage of skilled tradespeople.
Building figures released by the Marlborough District Council for June showed housing consents had risen to 22, up from 14 last year.
Construction companies and subcontractors appreciated the increase in business, but the difficulty of attracting trained staff to Marlborough meant wait times were going up.
Laser Electrical Blenheim managing director Brendon Adams said the company had been turning down at least two or three jobs a week.
"It's not so bad the amount of work, the problem is the lack of qualified tradespeople in the district and throughout the country," he said.
The last time work was as abundant was between 2005 and 2008, a period where the company had around 22 staff, compared to the 11 they had now.
Adams said he had advertised for skilled electricians, but a shortage of qualified tradespeople around New Zealand meant it was difficult to attract workers to Blenheim.
"All you can do is poach from someone else and that doesn't fix the problem, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul," he said.
The other solution was taking on apprentices, but Adams described this as a long-term solution because of the amount of time required to train them, around four years.
The resulting shortage in trained staff meant there had been wait times for at least two weeks for some jobs, which was short compared to the two-month delays being faced by some builders, he said.
Registered Master Builders Marlborough branch president Dallas Mead said builders had gone through a quiet period for the past two years so they had not taken on many apprentices.
"During the quiet times no-one really takes on apprentices, so when it gets busy again everyone is looking for skilled staff, which is a problem," he said.
Mead did not believe there was a severe shortage, but said if demand continued at its present rate there could be issues in the future.
"If it continues the way it's going, there will be a shortage of staff," he said.
Andrew Dwyer Bricklayer owner Andrew Dwyer said he had been getting calls from builders booking jobs a year in advance.
"We just can't take on any more work at the moment, which is sad because people obviously want stuff done, but we're flat out," he said.
"I just don't think there's going to be enough tradespeople to meet demand."
Demand in the building industry came and went in waves, so it was hard for companies to predict whether they needed to take on apprentices to meet the extra workload, Dwyer said.
"I really need someone now that knows how to lay bricks, I don't want to train them, I just want someone who can jump in and start laying."
However, attracting skilled workers from outside Marlborough was difficult, he said.
Places such as Christchurch and Nelson were equally busy, so unless someone specifically wanted to move to Blenheim, the larger centres might seem like more secure options, he said.
