Matt Duder: EBoss managing director on the new data showing significant percentage of builders have grim outlook for the year

Nearly three-quarters of builders think the industry is in for another tough financial year, according to new data. 

650 Kiwi builders were consulted in a new EBoss survey, with 67 percent of respondents reporting less projects and 70 percent claiming industry conditions will only get worse in the coming months.

Matt Duder from EBoss says builders operate on tough margins, so steady work is important to them.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Heather Do for ce Ellen.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Now, almost three quarters of builders think that the industry
is in for another tough year. Unfortunately, this is according
to a new survey of six hundred and fifty Kiwi builders.
Seventy six percent or rather sixty seven percent of them
don't think that they don't have as much work as
they did last year. Seventy percent of them think industry
conditions will decline over the next twelve months, which is
the vast majority of them. So you've got to believe

(00:23):
what you're hearing. Ebos died the survey and Matt Dooda
is the managing director.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hey, Matt, heather good evening, how much.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Longer do you think these guys can hang on?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, let's provide some context here. I think the report
confirms what we've been seeing and building consent numbers in
anecdotal reports really just suggests that we've got significant capacity
today and that capacity is going to remain for some time.
I think the overall message for people here is if
you're actually been considering a project where it's a renovation

(00:57):
or a new build, I think the window over the
next one months is going to be the best time.
Probably in the next five years to get stuck into
a project, because you're going to find you've got builders
and architects available when you want them, and we've got
married with building prices, building product prices at stabilized rates,
and competitive labor rates as well. So I think we

(01:20):
should try and encourage the demand for building in terms
of you know, for those hanging on, we're builders to
operate on tight margins, so having continuity of works really
important to them. So there are some concerns here, particularly
for smaller builders who told us that, hey, they're doing
this toughest and have had the most significantly reduced workloads.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
So I would imagine that you guys would be particularly worried,
or people who are worried about the stuff would be
particularly worried about the twenty one percent or thereabouts who
are working at about at zero to forty nine percent capacity, Right,
I mean, you're not doing half the work you could
you doing. Who are these people? Are they the sole traders?
Are they the small guys?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, it's definitely skewed towards the smaller, smaller companies. I
would however, mention that you know, some of the larger
companies have actually got significant pipelines that are more positive
about the future, and it also urged people to think
that are just to remind them there's some regional differences here,
so there's different levels of demand depending on where we
are in the country. But you know, in terms of

(02:27):
the actual financial stability, you know, we're actually seeing the
report that you know, most builders they're responsible, and they
are actually responding like anyone tightening their fiscal belt. They've
mentioned multiple factors to looking to drive greater efficiency. They're
open to utilizing new products and technology, and certainly thinking
about widening their portfolio of services, particularly into the renovations market.

(02:51):
So it's good to see.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Hey, I was quite fascinated to hear that some builders
are wary of the new law that's going to remove
the requirement for the local certification of material. I would
have thought that they would want it to want it
to be easy to get this stuff in.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
I hither, the way I read the report, I actually
see that the majority of builders are actually supportive of
loosening the rules to allow more important product.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
But I do think that a number of them just
have a word of caution for the government to make
sure that not all product is considered equal, So let's
think about taps and toilets differently from windows and structural
elements and roofing products.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, that's actually a very good point, Matt. Thanks so much, mate, appreciated.
Look after yourself. It's Matt, due to Eboss's managing director.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
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