Quake repair work advice issued

Cantabrians with building damage after Saturday's earthquake are being warned to be careful when checking on tradespeople to do repair work.

That applies particularly when they turn up on the doorstep unsolicited.

Tradestaff, a specialist employment consultancy for the industrial and building sector, says it has been flooded with calls from outside the region from people seeking to work in Christchurch, with some asking for inflated pay rates.

Registered Master Builders has also put out advice for homeowners to take care to look at the credentials of those they may employ to do restoration or rebuild work.

The federation of builders says it is better to spend 10 minutes on a check now, rather than ending up in a worse situation than they were six months down the line. The obvious demand for construction and building workers will also flow into secondary industries supplying other products and services.

Tradestaff managing director Kevin Eder said outside calls had been flooding into the Christchurch headquarters of the nationwide firm, with more than 200 calls from builders, building labourers and engineers on Monday alone.

Some were positive calls with people "saying hey can we come and help?", and others wanting to work questioning how easy it would be to find accommodation. But of concern were demands for inflated pay rates, Eder said.

"There's an element of people who would be [thinking] obviously there's an emergency and there's opportunity and we could go and earn a lot of money." Some in the building trade that would normally be paid $20 plus an hour were now asking if they could get $40 to $50 an hour, Eder said.

"We'd be pretty disappointed if people were looking to inflate prices or enter into profiteering at this time." The presence of "cowboys" looking to make their "fortune" was also of concern, and homeowners, particularly the elderly had to be careful to look for credentials and perhaps go through established Canterbury firms in the first instance.

There had been reports that an extra 2000 construction staff would be required in Christchurch, but workers needed to be vetted.

Simon Graham, director of Christchurch recruitment agency Graham Consulting said that the employment opportunities would go wider than just the rebuild sector, but that this would take a month or so to ignite.

"We're reasonably confident in the next four to six weeks that it will flow on to other roles – across a range of businesses that supply commercial and residential building constructions.

"That will include an increase in roles even in sales, customer and administration."

Registered Master Builders chief executive Warwick Quinn said the organisation's website could be used to help check credentials. "There's potentially more risk now than would otherwise be the case. People would be probably stressed and panicking they want to get somebody as soon as they can."

Also, the Government was introducing legislation through an updated Building Act to require compulsory written contracts on any work over the value of $20,000. That would help with any legal disputes, Quinn said.

"At the moment you can sign on a $2 million dollar home on a handshake."

At this point it was too early to say whether the work created through the earthquake could be catered to by local builders and the region. The raising of an estimate of the cost of the repair bill to $4 billion by Treasury had increased the likelihood of help needed from outside Canterbury particularly in a shorter repair timeframe, Quinn said.

Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend said the city needed to rely on its own abilities and resources and make sure much of the work went to its own firms.

"One of key issues we should be emphasising to Government is that we need to support local businesses. We should avoid the temptation just to bring everything from outside because there's 90 per cent of our own capability ready and waiting for work," Townsend said.

New Zealand's biggest glazier Smith and Smith said it was already working from dawn to dusk in a bid to help restore earthquake victims' glass-shattered Christchurch homes. Window-repair experts nationwide had been sent to Christchurch.

"Bringing in staff and resources is one of the first boosts to the post-quake Christchurch economy as our staff from other centres are accommodated and eating locally," spokeswoman Julia Dol said.

- © Fairfax NZ News