“CURSE OF BUILDING TRADE”

Taranaki Daily News, 17 November 1926, Page 9

“CURSE OF BUILDING TRADE”

SPECULATIVE ERECTION OF HOUSE

Dunedin, Nov. 15

A Dunedin builder, dealing with the question of cheap houses, said that several speculative builders who commenced operations in Dunedin a few months ago with get-rich-quick ideas, .were now experiencing difficulty in meeting their liabilities. At least four had placed their creditors in an awkward position. As an example of the cheapness at which some of these builders attempt to build, he quoted a ease where a contract had been signed for £9OO, and another builder had stated that the same house could not be built under £1035 with any chance of profit. In a further case, where a builder- had prepared plans and submitted a tender for just over £lOOO, another highly reputable builder tendered at £llOO, yet the successful tender was for £9OO.

He expressed the opinion that the timber was usually inferior, and the workmanship of the “quick and lively” type. The house looked all right on the outside, the paint and stylish papers being big factors in their sale. Purchasers of these houses seldom got them any cheaper than houses built by competent builders, he said, but the profit usually went into, the pockets of land agents. “The spec, builder in the hands of the agents is the curse of the building trade, and acts detrimentally to the interests of the public,” he asserted, and in closing he suggested that there should be some system of inspection of these houses before they were sold.