Chief Executive Report

We live in fast-changing times. Within the first month of 2023, the construction sector moved from being concerned about its forward pipeline of work to now questioning how it will be able to resource the flood remediation works in Auckland and neighbouring regions. Our thoughts are with members whose businesses or personal property was damaged by the floods. Representing another shift, it is not the constrained building product supply chain that is likely to hamper the rebuild works –that significant challenge of 2022 has settled down considerably. Now, it seems the lack of available builders and sub-trades will be the main impediment to remediation works being undertaken. The value of trade association membership was demonstrated in the direct aftermath of the flooding, with the New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) Members’ Only Closed Facebook page providing a real-time channel through which members could seek assistance or offer help to others. Plus, NZCB was able to provide a direct conduit that Auckland Council used to advise builders of its cancellation of building inspections across the week following the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods.

NZCB members played an important role throughout the first stage of the response, assisting clients and community groups with the supply of pumps and ensuring building sites were secure. I would like to acknowledge that effort and the spirit in which the assistance was provided – you were great NZCB brand ambassadors.

Our members will be in the thick of the rebuild. Our membership base is well-versed in undertaking building work on existing buildings (vs. new builds being a sole focus) and working closely with homeowners. It is the client relationship skills of NZCB members that have allowed them to keep work on the books this past six months. Especially when clients, faced with the twin challenges of rising interest rates and incessant cost escalation on building products across 2022, have explored a Plan B, which for some involved replacing a new build with alterations and additions to their existing home.

The majority of NZCB builders do both new and existing building work, which has softened the impact of the market downturn on our membership base. This flexibility will be hugely beneficial to homeowners now working their way through insurance claims. There will be a great deal of media and government interest in how the construction sector meets the challenge of the Auckland flood mitigation works, with NZCB visibly representing a builder’s perspective of what those challenges look like.

Visible representation is one strand of construction sector leadership NZCB is very focused on, as is the provision of training and showcasing of ideas that lift our members’ own leadership competencies across their businesses, on their building sites, and within their broader communities.

The fast-approaching ‘Building Leadership’ themed NZCB AGM, Conference and Expo is therefore timely. It will allow the membership to come together, recharge, and learn from a line-up of speakers that will provide members with a good array of tools to implement and demonstrate leadership in their day-to-day operations. Our keynote speaker line-up includes some ‘must see’ presenters we are very pleased to have engaged.

This year’s NZCB AGM, Conference and Expo was framed up by an energetic Conference Working Group comprised of NZCB Auckland President Barbara MacGregor, NZCB Wellington President Niamh Short, NZCB Board Member Director Garry Nott, and NZCB member Joshua Gardner from Christchurch. Working closely with the National Support Office (NSO) team, they recommended the leadership theme and have come up with a speaker line-up and presentation topics they believe will be of interest and relevance to NZCB members. I would like to extend a big thank you to this group.

Finally, a key focus for the Conference Working Group was to encourage members whose partner/spouse is involved in their business to attend conference also – and the agenda reflects this. Having both the person running the business and the person doing the business at the May 2023 event will be hugely beneficial as they can implement learnings together to drive their business forward.

Malcolm Fleming NZCB