Message from the NZCB Board

Lockdown lessons and the importance of wellbeing

As I write this, New Zealand has been moving in and out of COVID-19 alert levels. Again, creating uncertain times for us all.

I understand things are hard for a lot of people right now. Going forward, there is uncertainty. How is COVID-19 going to impact us in 2021? What long-term effects will this have on our regions, our industry, our economy, and our country? Can we contain the spread of COVID-19 in New Zealand?

I would like to take this time to reflect on the positives that occurred during lockdown in my life, last year. While 2020 was a year like no other and I acknowledge that not everyone had the same experiences, I’m sure some of you will relate to my account.

Looking back to lockdown – March 2020

Initially, when we heard the country was going into lockdown on 25 March 2020, I was concerned. I had two new builds on the go, three more in the pipeline, and one renovation that thankfully, had just been closed in. I wasn’t sure how long this was going to go on. News from around the world was disturbing. Would my new build clients still get finance from the bank? Would the months of planning, quoting, and getting consent be wasted? Would they go ahead in uncertain times? Would we get materials? Would my staff be ok? We scrambled around, spoke with staff, contacted clients, contained the sites as best as we could, and parked up the vans. We heard about places like Bunnings having record sales the day before lockdown. Supermarket shopping was frantic – lines of people waiting to get their goods trailed out into car parks. Shelves emptied as people prepared to bunker down.

I experienced the following:

• Time. For the first time in years, I had time. I can’t remember when I’ve ever switched off like this before. Possibly when

I was a teenager? Before I was self-employed? I didn’t have the same level of phone calls or texts from clients, staff calls, sub trades ringing to say they couldn’t get to site, council issues, suppliers telling me they couldn’t get materials... I enjoyed not having my phone with me all day.

It was reassuring to know everyone was in the same situation, it wasn’t just me having a break. I could properly relax. I got to rest, watch a movie, hang out with my children, eat baking, and go for a walk. I got to be at home. • A flu. All those weeks of working long hours and as my wife would say ‘burning both ends of the candle’ meant I got sick.

But I could rest, sleep in, and recover. • I also got to build. It never really ends does it?! My wife had me building garden beds (we weren’t sure how long this lockdown was going to go on, and she wanted vegetable gardens – she had for a few years now, so that was sorted). • I also built a basketball backboard for my son. He got a hoop for Christmas two years ago and it sat in our shed as

I hadn’t put it up. I also made a tennis wall for hitting the ball against. These would provide many hours of family fun over the coming weeks. (In case you are wondering, I had some supplies in the shed to make all this.) • I caught up with friends on the phone, some I hadn’t spoken to for ages. • I made Zoom calls to family, friends, and other builders to see how they were getting on. • I ate better (by not visiting any bakeries). Without always being on the go, I actually had proper meals, needed less coffee, and felt better for it. • Walked more. Each day we would walk around the block in our family ‘bubble.’ • We got back to basics: – We caught up with the neighbours regularly over the back fence (at a safe distance). – We cleaned everything that came into the home. Spray and wiped every grocery item – you never know. – We used up a lot of food we had in the cupboards/ freezer at home.

– We decluttered. We made a start and got rid of a few items that we didn’t need anymore. There was nowhere to take them, but we had made a start. • I did some business planning and worked on some overdue items. I looked at how we were running our business, what our goals were for the next two, five and 10 years. Are we heading in the right direction? Am I happy with what I’m doing? What needs to change? Do we have

While 2020 was a year like no other and I acknowledge that not everyone had the same experiences, I’m sure some of you will relate to my account.

Mike Hayward NZCB Board Member

a good team working with us? Do we need to modify this in any way? What can we do to further invest in our team? These are things I’d wanted to deal with for a long time. It gave me the opportunity to work on my business, not in it. It felt good. • We all felt grateful we lived in New Zealand and not overseas where COVID-19 was wreaking havoc. Lockdown forced me to take a much-needed break, which I felt able to do because there were no demands on me during that time.

What I will carry on with:

Taking a mental break – I really needed this time, even though I didn’t realise it back then. We all know that we should do it, but life is busy. The sheer amount of detail we as builders/employers have to cope with on a daily basis is huge. We have to be on our game, mistakes can cost us significantly. I’m not perfect, but I know I need to do something regularly to switch off my brain. For me it’s a motorbike trail ride on a weekend with mates, cycle at the local bike park, or a weekend away once every couple of months with my wife. What do you do to switch off?

Eating well – All too often we don’t eat well when we are stressed. We grab the wrong things and we don’t plan ahead. I had good meals and felt better for it.

Sleeping – Making sure you get a decent sleep. Communicating – Talking to the neighbours, phoning friends, Zoom calling – all made us feel connected.

Being present with my kids and not bringing work into my kids’ day – I really enjoyed spending time with my three children. I also decided to try to reduce the amount of ‘work talk’ I shared in front of them.

Blocking out time – I have tried to use this more since we’ve gone back to Level 1 and back at work again. Blocking out time to do certain things helps me achieve the things I want to. It doesn’t always happen, but 80% of the time it’s effective. For example, blocking out office time instead of being on-site, blocking out time to go for a bike ride. Realising I can’t do everything – I’m only one person. I work as hard as I can, but I’ve come to realise that I can’t do it all, and that’s okay.

Planning ahead – Prioritising what is important and planning ahead are two aspects that must happen to stay organised. Usually, at the start of the week (or a Sunday) it’s good to sit down for 30-minutes and try to plan your week or fortnight. I know things don’t always go to plan, but it does help.

While we don’t know what the coming months or years will look like, we do need to look after ourselves. The industry is running red hot at the moment, it feels like we are making up for lost time from last year. We’re busier now than we were before COVID. There are also extra pressures in the industry now, such as lack of housing supply, material supply, sub trade availability, engineer resourcing. This all applies another layer of stress.

Many builders I’ve talked to recently have mentioned that it would be beneficial to have another lockdown to have another rest. I agreed and had been thinking the same way. Isn’t it a shame that it took a pandemic for us builders to have a rest?

Shouldn’t we be incorporating some of these habits into our daily lives? We need to work in a way that is sustainable – not only for our business, but ourselves too.

Hopefully, there is something on the list above you could start doing to look after yourself more. Just pick one thing. Then another. Small changes lead to big changes.

All the best.

Lockdown forced me to take a much-needed break, which I felt able to do because there were no demands on me during that time.