Covid-19 rules a struggle for tradies
Construction workers countrywide have been handed a stack of new regulations and advice around keeping safe on site, but common sense says these rules may be hard to follow.
The owner of Wellington-based Custom Builds Ltd, Sean Cockburn, said the new regulations, while necessary and widely adhered to, hugely reduced the efficiency of a building site.
‘‘Usually you try and get as much done in one area at a time,’’ he said.
If teams worked as normally, ‘‘they’d be bursting their bubbles all over the show’’.
Cockburn set his employees’ work bubbles on Tuesday morning, allocating tradies into teams and sites in which they must stay until level two.
People in the same team bubble were allowed 1 metre from each other, and anyone from another bubble must remain 2 metres away.
‘‘The problem you can get from that is not being able to share expertise,’’ he said. ‘‘For example some might be good at digging, but there’s only so much digging you can do on one site.
‘‘There are a lot of pinch points.’’ It was inevitable that people would need help lifting things, or would pass each other on the stairs, making the 1m rule difficult.
The industry made regular use of carpooling, but unless employees were already in a shared bubble, getting them to site and finding parking for everyone’s vehicles was a problem. Especially on big builds, the loss of efficiency translated directly into loss of money.
‘‘It’s great to be back to work, but we’re still bleeding money at the moment,’’ Cockburn said.
‘‘It’s about a thousand dollars a day to run a bigger site.
‘‘If I lose three days because I can’t get people there at the same time, that’s $3000.
‘‘I think there needs to be some more advice about how we go about charging for lost time,’’ he said.
Construction was heavily regulated in terms of health and safety, so was ‘‘well-geared’’ for these kinds of precautions. ‘‘Nobody is that overwhelmed, it’s just another hoop we have to jump through.’’
New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB) chief executive Grant Florence said there had been ‘‘immediate engagement’’ by its members with regulations and advice around social distancing and safety.
‘‘I’ve had no reports back that they aren’t being adhered to.’’
NZCB had provided advice and print-out signage to make it easier for companies to follow the rules.
He acknowledged every site was different, and some rules may not be feasibly adhered to all the time.
‘‘It’s inevitable that there will be scenarios where common sense prevails.’’
So far there were no plans to audit building sites.
The ability to claim for lost time depended on individual contracts.
‘‘My advice is to be open and transparent with your customers.’’
The co-owner of a small Wellington building company, Nick Tapp, said he had noticed companies looking for any loophole to get the job done, and others that were happy sticking to the rules.
His company of three builders and an apprentice was only taking jobs outdoors, in accordance with a recommendation by Certified Builders. After finishing off a fence it would put work on hold until level two.
Deliveries and visitors were logged, but difficulties arose around sharing tools, which needed to be sanitised between jobs, and keeping space between builders when working in close quarters.
Smaller companies did not have huge ongoing overheads unless in the middle of a project, or renting scaffolding.
‘‘But it does make it harder and more costly with extra cleaning required,’’ Tapp said. ‘‘What I’ve been hearing overwhelmingly is that small business owners have survived with the wage subsidy.’’