A vision for the industry as if people mattered

“See a weed, pull a weed”

Question:

Are our systems, laws and regulations controlling us or are we in control of them and does this control come from wise visionary governance/leadership?

As an active participant of all things to do with the building industry for the last 32 years I have seen some common themes developing. I would like to give you my perception about our current status. I would also like to invite you on  my idea in a journey for better tomorrow.

My mum’s side of the family have been in New Zealand since 1865, whereas my Dads side 1920’s. I absolutely love the environment in New Zealand. I am so thankful that my parents and grandparents settled here.

My Great Grandfather was an MP twice in the house. Once in the hokitikia electorate and again in the 1893 parliament representing Auckland in the house during the +Richard Seddon term.

My Great-Grandfather +Charles Edward Button I believe was a man before his time. I have the fortunate ability to read his conversations and opinions via Hansard in +Parliament. Also being a strong local government representative, Birkenhead mayor for 11 years, West land mayor and editor of the Auckland District law society and finally a Supreme Court judge.

With this lineage in my thinking and my building industry leanings I find myself questioning sometimes the lack of strong leadership and vision in our local and national governance organisations. This of course makes me ache with concern about this nation that is slowly but increasingly burdened with greater and greater negligence and debt.

My great concern as a father is for my son and daughters children.

I have always enjoyed the building process. I was turned on to this industry as a young guy of 14 years of age. This happened in my woodwork class at Howick college. I am not the sporty type. I am a  very single focussed individual. This has its good points but it also has its bad points. Mr Woods at Howick college set his project for us in 1980. It was the building of a shelf in pine.  I loved that little bookcase.  Newly stained and proudly taken home on completion. My Mum and Dad were very proud. As you can appreciate so was I. On reflection that was the beginning of my  self-belief changing and believing I had something to offer the world.

From that day on I wanted to be a carpenter. At 15 years of age during my school certificate year I started a new job at Marbeck Building Supplies. My goal was to get an apprenticeship and achieve my goal of becoming a carpenter.

 This sentence does not do justice to the years of failure I felt searching for someone who will employ me to achieve my goal.  7 years in total before I actually started my adult apprenticeship.

I was so fortunate that +Hank Van Lieshout from +Pukekohe Builders took a risk at employing me.  He never employed labourers and he always had a new apprentice every year.  He had his own subdivision which enabled him to control the construction process. I learnt to dig the footings by hand, lay the blocks, pour the floor, frame the houses, hang the doors and do our own gib-board.

That environment over the 4 year apprenticeship taught me to be a man. My work mates were very kind and taught me about life as well as technique. That is a very, very important aspect of what some of our young men are missing out on.

It was during this time after achieving all the theoretical components of the Carpentry apprenticeship that I started getting restless as I was not challenged. It was during this time in 1990 that I read about an organisation that I was having a growing affinity for. +Habitat for Humanity International. So I promised myself that I would give my skills back to Habitat and be an international partner. I would use my building skills to build for families anywhere in the world. This gave me goal to achieve. So in June 1992 I travelled around America with Habitat as one of the destinations.

I eventually worked with +Michael Powell, +Ian Hay and +Tony Lanigan and many others to establish +HabitatNZ.  As spoken earlier a few lines do not do justice to the time spent learning life’s lessons. I was been self-employed up till 2008. It is then that I moved to Auckland City Council as a central building inspector for residential houses. I have been able to consolidate a lot of the past information quickly into a proper process. This for me has been very satisfying.

“See a weed, pull a weed”

I live my life based on this mantra. Weeds are ever present. When I look at my house I do get overwhelmed sometimes by the growing weeds that choke the good foliage and flowers. Obviously the concept of pull a weed is based around "if you see a problem investigate it and help resolve the issue".

 The building industry has been a part of the fabric of who I am for 32 years. So if I recognise and see rot in the system I am duty bound to mention it.

 Michael and +Martha Pennock from +Harvard University back in the 80s were approached by the Bhutan government to help them develop a concept called the Gross Domestic Happiness (GNP).  Essentially a measurement tool to measure the satisfaction in life the people feel about living in +Bhutan.  The concept of GNP is the polar opposite of the western democracies measurement tool of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Michael says that the western measurement system and the whole design of its development acts very similar to the spread of cancer. Cancer starts small and eats more and more of its host till the point that the host is controlled by the cancer. The ultimate outcome of this of course, it achieves its intentional end death.  The western dream and the systems that support it are acting in the same way.

 In the building industry in New Zealand we are still facing a crisis this has grown into every sector of our society. 

Is our building industry sick like it has Cancer?

Do we have a further looming weather tightness problem acting like an elephant in the room?

What is the ultimate outcome of this disease?

See a weed, pull a weed.

+Joseph Stiglitz the nobel laureate for economics in his book “Globalisation and its discontents” Makes a very fundamental point.  He mentions that Globalization although hated by western democracies. They perpetuated this issue due to their constant and on-going need to achieve more profitability. He notes every country needs a vibrant construction industry,a vibrant education and health industry. We all need to live in housing we all need to have bridges, hospitals so on and so forth.

I see that the powers that be that drive the policy and strategy behind the Building industry see this issue as well. There is not that many organisations doing the rebuild of Christchurch, upgrading our national roading network and providing the entire manufactured products to the markets. Their dream is that all the cash, taxpayers and ratepayers funds lead to their organisations to subsidise their share price.

I want to promote another vision for the New Zealand building industry!

http://geert-hofstede.com/new-zealand.html
+Geert hofstede created a cultural measurement tool for many countries. He uses 5 references against each country:   

• Power Distribution.

We believe we can run the country or any system if we really wanted to. 

•     Individualism

As a country we rate very high on individualism. This denotes our strengths in Fonterra, Zespri, Foodstuffs the franchise business model. All things that promote wealth creation for one’s immediate family

•  Masculinity / Femininity

when we sift through the sector of the building industry. As building industry members we do not like the stigma that we are at fault when it came to the weather tightness issue. We have all collectively been tarred with the same brush.  We also like to be recognised as winners.

•   Uncertainty avoidance  

Emotions are not shown much. As a small economy that in its past 2 generations we have been very wealthy. We do have good life here, but because we have a she will be right attitude a broader controlling attitude pervades our boardrooms which takes advantage of this weak position. That position tends to be no need for excellence; we can just cruise because we will never go without food in our belly.

•     Long-term Orientation

Again sifting through the building industry as alluded to earlier we need to be profitable this financial year. Due to the disintegration of +Roger Douglas’s adopted economic theories in the 1980s and a myriad of other governments perpetuating the problem by reducing the pool of organisations and trained staff members to help develop into the future. In addition to this the main organisations do not have a strategy of training. This is due to gains coming only from the long term investments. The short term gains come from importation of labour and materials. Maybe the shareholder thinks as long as the CEO brings the required returns P/A my ownership and shareholding cannot be held accountable for the broad infrastructural problems my short term planning has created.

My current concerns:

Part of the background of Auckland city and now of course +Auckland Council is their adoption of a “code of practice” for the role of inspector. As an organisation they had been teaching it up to 2011. I enjoyed this process because it pulled apart all the risk components in the building job. It provides independent auditing of those sites. This is aligned with the Building act 2004 legislation up to March 13^th, 2012. Please read the wording below:

90 (3) In this section, inspection means the taking of all reasonable steps to ensure that building work is being carried out in accordance with a building consent.

 As mentioned above my real core driver has been to help SME organisations advance in their profitability and therefore with some of this investment spend it back into trade training.

The above section has been altered  as follows:

 28 Inspections by building consent authorities

• Section 90 is amended by repealing subsection (3) and substituting the following subsections:
•  “(4) Nothing in this section may be taken to impose an obligation on a building consent authority to make an inspection.”

This simply means that council will not be required to check that all the reasonable steps have been taken to make sure the Building complies too the consented drawings. This will be on the shoulders of the LBP. The record of work will prove to the BCA that all issues have been resolved.

If and when within the ten year liability there happens to be fault the +Licensed Building Practictioner will need to go to court to justify the failure and prove who was at fault: please refer to the BA 2004 extract

  88  Licensed building practitioner to provide record of work in respect of restricted building work

 (4) A record of work given under subsection (1) does not, of itself,—

(a) create any liability in relation to any matter to which the record of work relates; or

The concern I have is the issue that the Record of Work “Of Itself” does not impose an issue of liability. The issue is upon investigation if the LBP has not documented to the same level of reasonable care that the past inspector used to do. The LBP may be held accountable for the failure purely on the basis that the LBP acted dumb in court therefore the individual must be therefore be deemed unsuitable for the role as an LBP.

This of course opens up a broader conversation has the minister in conjunction with the local government set up an environment where all our LBPs could possibly fail at some time in the future.  This will help of course the major manufacturers and companies who have used taxpayers and ratepayers funds to set up their internal Quality Assurance Systems.

These systems are at the heart of the way they can win contracts from the weak and disenfranchised builders who have never ever had a strong advocate in their corner of the rugby field.

In conclusion my vision for the NZ building industry is closer in tune to the reality. I would prefer a vibrant wealthy building community taking ownership over there communities’ issues. They can employ young men and women and provide them a career path in this vital cog in our community. I do not see any long term future in working for one or two major infrastructure companies. We do not have the monies at the moment to invest in taxpayer funded training to the quality that is required. The investment will need to come from internal efficiencies created  every building industry participant with those advantages shared in co-operative environment.

I encourage you to contact me if you want to join in this dream.

Let’s provide a better tomorrow for our children’s children.

cityguildsbuild@gmail.com