108 | Optimistic for industry future Central Peaks Building has plenty of work on the go. Central Peaks Building T T Hugh de Lacy BUILDING He concedes it might be just his good luck, but residential builder Joseph Walshe, owner of Wanaka-based Central Peaks Building Ltd, reckons he’s seeing the beginnings of the long-overdue economic recovery in the construction industry, at least in Central Otago. And he ought to know, because he’s survived the collapse of the industry when the Covid pandemic struck in 2020, just as he launched his company. Of course, the big but brief post-Covid boom would occur in 2021, and by then Joseph and Central Peaks Building were firmly established in the local new-home market. “Things were really tough when I first got started on my own – rather reluctantly because previously I’d been working for my best mate, but he moved up north, leaving me with not much choice but to go it alone,” Joseph says. “And then came Covid. I was lucky in having work, but it was a nightmare time because forward orders of materials were taking six months to arrive. “I was helped through this crisis by ITM (Independent Timber Merchants) trade rep Hemi Karamaena, and a digger-driver mate James Bishop, who were a source of great advice and help during the difficult times. “Once that crisis was behind us I was able to get on with finishing my own home in Hawea, and at the same time was fortunate enough to land a project for a new 260sqm home that kept me and one employee busy until the end of 2023. “We’re currently doing a renovation in Wanaka, but then we’ll be on to a new three-bedroom 150sqm home in Hawea, plus two further homes after that. So I may have been lucky, but there really do seem to be signs of life in the residential market in Central Otago.” Building was a second choice for Joseph after he left school, because his careers advisor told him it involved a lot of lifting of timber by hand, and that he’d be better off doing an engineering apprenticeship because, while engineers lifted steel, they did so using cranes. Accordingly he completed an apprenticeship as a light fabricator, but feeling he had plateaued, took up a carpentry apprenticeship with the prominent Oamaru home-builder Roger Gilchrist. “I was still quite young, so while I was adaptable I felt I had unfinished business when it came to my building qualification,” Joseph says. Fresh out of his time in 2019, he headed off to Europe to get a different take on the building industry, back-packing and working intermittently in Germany for six months under a working holiday visa. He came home to two years working for Nick Staples, who then departed to build a house for his father in Christchurch, and has since wound up on Waiheke Island. After his experience in the Covid materials shortages, later followed by massive price inflation, Joseph is happy to see some degree of stability return to the building materials market. “It might not last, but it looks promising,” he says. BRICK LAYING SCHIST STONE BLOCK LAYING OAMARU STONE TILING Covering all of Central Otago and Southern Lakes 23 Gordon Road, Wanaka | Phone: (03) 443 1260 Email: wanaka.reception@aoteaelectric.co.nz For anything electrical, from Appliance repairs to Commercial builds. WANAKA S I T EWORKS
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