BUILDING COSTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 291, 3 August 1932, Page 6

BUILDING COSTS

N.Z. FIGURES CONSIDERABLE DROP DURING LAST FOUR YEARS. UPWARD TENDENCY EXPECTED. Examples of the considerahle fall in building costs and the prices of materials in New Zealand were given by Mr. C. H. Mitchell, member of the New Zealand ffnstitute of Architects, who was one of the speakers at the allied building industries convention held at Wellington recently. To-day's prices, Mr. Mitch'ell said, were considered to be at rock-bottom.J "Any move," Mr. Mitchell added, "must be upward; Prices may never return to their former high level, hut they will advance to some point above their present level. Many people had the idea that all prices reached the peak in 1928, he proceeded, but this. was not so with prices of materials, as the analysis ! showed that prices gradually had I fallen from their 1921-22 level until 1928. Since then, however, the drop had been extensive, and early this year many prices seemed to stabilise. While imported materials showed a decrease in price of only from 15 per eent. to 20 per cent. during the last three or four years, those of local origin were some 40 per cent. to 50 per cent. lower. Some lines of timbei had fallen in price by 45 per cent since 1928, but, taking an average over eight lines, the price to-day was only two-thirds of the 1928 price. Today's prices compared with those ruling before the war, and actually were only about half the rates charged in 1921. A 45 Per Gent. Decrease. Gravel and sand prices to-day were between 40 per cent. and 45 per cent. below the 1928 figure. Cement in 1921-22 was £9 13s 6d a ton, while to-day it was only £5 2s 9d a ton. In 1920 reinforcing steel was sold for as high as £35 a ton. During 1921 it dropped slightly to £32, and during the next six or seven years it reached only half of the 1921 level. Since then it had fallen further and to-day the approximate price was £13 10s — only 30s higher than the prewar level. Imported materials used by plumbers and painters had fallen only from 14 per cent. to 15 per cent. during the last four years, but when one took into account the increase in the exchange rate, the reduction was really considerably more. Builders' hardware showed a decline in prices averaging 12£ per cent. since 1928, but again the rate of exchange had to be taken into account. Plaster wall board was from 22h per cent. to 25 per cent. lower in price to-day as _ompared with 1928. Tile roofs in 1929 cost £5 10s to £6 10s for each square fixed, compared with £3 15s to £4 5s to-day. Plain fibrous plaster sheat work was as high as 8s for each square yard in 1928, while to-day the work could be carried out for 4s and 4s 6d. Actual Building Compared. In order to determine the fall in cost in an actual building, said Mr. ^Mitchell, it was desirabl'e to examine the present costs of the work connected with the building of a model house, as compared with those ruling before the peak period. The 'estimated cost of the general contractor's work on a given house had fallen from £1150 for the average of from 1921 to 1928 to only £925 today. The joiner's price had dropped t'rom £168 to £125, plumber's average price from £165 to £135, the painter's the paperhanger's price from £68/10to £55, and the eleetrician's price from £20 to £13. Those prices represented a drop oi from 25 per cent to 30 per cent. in the cost of the particular house considered, and from the infornlation cbtained it was gathered that the estimated cost of any building project would show at Last a similar reduction in the cost of that work as compared with four years ago. Effeet of Strong Demaud. Althoug-h the cost of most building materials had fallen slightly from 1921 to 1928, the actual cost of building slightly increased during the same period. This was accounted for by an increasing demand (culminating in 1928-29) for all classes of builuing work, and it was safe to say that the prices quoted as to-day's values were at least 35 per cent. lower than those of the peak pmriod. While all the prices and estimates submitted and pereertitages quoted were averages for honest values, yet tenders were eommonly obtained today for considerably lower than these figures. Sueh tendsrs were gener-'tlly considered to be below the recogni=ed economic level for the class of work under consideration, and iir many cases were stated to compare favourably with pre-war values.