Process thinking might be the key to helping you deliver better outcomes.

I certainly do. 

The easy answer is to charge more. Whether that is for your products or services or by asking your boss for a raise. Of course, reality is much harder than that.

I’ve always said: “if you are willing to give a square metre rate, all it shows is that you don’t know what you are talking about”. But what is the best way to answer this common question?

Practical lessons from replacing a deck — how visual costing, and activity-based costing make for more reliable estimates.

For those of us involved in the residential building sector, life is happening. In times like this is it easy to start second guessing your strategy.

A random sample of H1 reports from consented projects highlights common mistakes when calculating H1, questions the accuracy of free services, and shows where thermal modelling would be more advantageous.

The closure of the Straits of Hormuz due to the current Iran war is causing an oil price response that could be worse than the two oil crisis of the 1970s. That is saying something. The 70s oil shocks caused seismic economic changes that echoed around the world.

Roughly 30% of business failures in the last year were in the construction sector. It is not the lack of trade specific skills, but the broader knowledge needed for a successful business.

As we deal with a wide range of builders across NZ, I’m often asked “What are you seeing?”. The general feel that I’m getting is that the industry is more positive but that businesses aren’t yet seeing it in their books. But it was much the same at the end 2024 and into 2025. Will 2026 be any different?

The challenge with H1 is that the underlying concept of thermal performance is quite complex. Surprisingly small things can tip a design over from passing to failing. Or costing a lot more.