“Inspired” is how leading national home builder Platinum Homes describes the Government’s announcement on freeing up urban land for housing.
“We desperately need a circuit breaker to get more Kiwi families into homes and this could well be it,” says Chief Executive Dave Andrew.
His company alone has plans to build 300 homes across the country in the next year – a number that could easily double – if only there was more land available.
“This initiative, while it will obviously take time to be implemented, is just what the country needs.
“If we could bundle this up with some improvements to building consent timelines and also address some of our current supply chain issues then I see the potential for some real progress in the home building sector,” Dave Andrew says.
Platinum Homes currently has more than 100 homes waiting on building consents from councils around the country.
“As if that wasn’t bad enough, we also face delays for some timber products, internal wall linings, tapware and other products, and increasing costs of our building supplies.
“In some cases that means we need to steer clients towards more available choices. In other cases, where a client has their heart set on a particular feature, we have to explain that there could be a wait of several months, until we get supplies into the country or out of a New Zealand factory.
“My only hope is, having reached this agreement between the Government and the National Party, that each and every politician in the House will do their bit to make sure that the momentum that has got us this far will carry on until the legislation is enacted. Only then will New Zealand be able to reap the benefits. This is a great start.”
