Building Salary Guide: salaries strangely constant

Date; 30th June 2009

Building Salary Guide: salaries remarkably constant

The 2009 New Zealand Institute of Building/Hays Construction Salary Guide has been released, and shows that despite the credit crunch and an unprecedented contraction within the residential building sector, salary levels remain remarkably constant in most disciplines.

“Predictably, estimators and those involved in business development experienced some of the greatest salary increases as companies attempted to strengthen their pipeline of projects,” says Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“Over the coming six months, those in property development, architecture and commercial and residential construction (in particular site managers and project managers) will need to be more flexible and adaptable in their role and salary expectations.

“But those infrastructure candidates who possess the required experience and skills will benefit from increasing salaries, albeit in smaller increments than seen in previous years.”

In other trends, the Salary Guide reveals:
 The average working week is between 40-50 hours, although almost one in four work 50-60 hours.
 The length of service for more than one in two employees is three to five years. One in four employees is retained between six and 10 years.
 70 percent of construction employers use contract staff for labour positions; 57 percent use contract staff for management positions.
 Estimators remain the most difficult candidates to source in New Zealand’s current construction market.
 Percentage of female staff: architects 29 percent; consultancies 23 percent; professional quantity surveyors 22 percent; construction 13 percent.

The Salary Guide is an extensive guide to construction salaries across 12 New Zealand locations, various construction types and a range of project sizes.

The Salary Guide is available from the Hays web site.

Visit http://www.hays.net.nz/about/NZIOBSurvey.pdf

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