Terry Buchan is construction company Hawkins\u2019 general manager of major projects.<\/p>\n

OPINION:\u00a0New residential builds in Aotearoa New Zealand are beset by a \u201cperfect storm\u201d of\u00a0issues: record demand, labour shortages, supply chain uncertainty, skyrocketing material costs.<\/p>\n

Across the country builders and subcontactors are struggling to keep all the balls in the air, while homeowners wince as their timeframes and budgets blow out.<\/p>\n

Solutions (like so many building materials) are\u00a0in short supply. Over in commercial construction, the best practice models developed by industry leaders may be the way forward.<\/p>\n

By asking your contractor and subbies to think and act more like a commercial construction enterprise you can navigate around and mitigate the worst effects of the \u201cperfect storm\u201d that will otherwise slow down and increase the cost of your new build.<\/p>\n

The elephant in the (as yet unbuilt) room is risk. Or more correctly, who holds the risk? At Hawkins we have deliberately tendered to moved away from fixed price contracts where possible where traditionally the risk of rising prices is held by one party.<\/p>\n

As a would-be homeowner, you may feel you\u2019re \u201cwinning\u201d with fixed price contracts. But the cost to you, and New Zealand, is unsustainably high. No one in the building business, whether a one-man-band or a multinational construction company, can afford to endlessly absorb rising costs. Businesses fail, demand outstrips supply and prices increase. The end result is fewer houses at higher prices.<\/p>\n

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