Revealing the results from the Construction Industry Survey

There’s no sugar-coating it. Times are tough right now. However, the results of the 2020 Construction Industry Survey, a partnership between Teletrac Navman and Civil Contractors New Zealand, indicates contractors see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The survey, undertaken in June 2020 by 188 predominantly owners, directors or management-level workers in the civil construction industry, found that civil contractors are cautiously optimistic about the industry’s future.

Government’s big construction spend

In the next three years, over two thirds of respondents (69%) expect that large projects proposed under the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme – predominantly allocated to upgrading transport, schools, hospitals, and regional infrastructure – will have a positive impact. A similar amount (68%) say that regional projects proposed under the Shovel Ready Projects programme will have a positive impact.

Shovel-ready indicates projects with 6 to 12 months to go before the construction industry is involved – meaning they should kick-off from early and throughout 2021. Survey respondents anticipate a short-term crunch before contractors reach their next tranche of projects, but over a longer time frame –the next three years onwards – the work pipeline is sounding positive.

Acceleration of digital: is fleet management software part of the solution?

In other industries, we have seen the Covid-19 pandemic accelerate changes within the business – especially with a shift to better digital tools. Respondents working directly with the onsite crews are keen to take advantage of the gains in technology

70% of the project managers, fleet managers and managers group responded that they were positive in the ability of new technology to improve business efficiency and overcome challenges.

This group was more positive than the overall response, where about half (46%) were confident in the positive impact of new technology. Around half of respondents to the survey are owners or executive management, who are less positive in technology.  If I were in a senior management position, I’d want to know why project managers are so confident in technology and what systems they’re using.

Over a half (59%) of contractors use technology to measure the efficiency of asset utilisation.

This data, which you can collect and view with Teletrac Navman’s fleet management system, helps them use strong data to decide where to invest capital expenditure – or where assets are being underutilised and could be subbed out for hire over ownership.

Further encouraging data was on the role technology plays in managing health and safety in the workplace. Research showed 77% of respondents used technology to measure adherence to workplace health and safety, 60% used technology to measure safe driver behaviour and 53% used technology to measure safe operator behaviour.

Health and safety is a cultural matter – it’s about how the whole team, from the owner-operator to new workers entering the industry, respect safe practices and pride themselves in them. Teletrac Navman customers have told us they use the fleet management system as part of a wider approach to health and safety. The technology helps teams understand risk, while aiding understanding and giving managers a way to benchmark progress. However, it’s not a silver bullet in itself. It can support the business to improve the company culture around health and safety.

A resilient response from New Zealand contractors

It’s heartening to find most survey participants are more confident in their own business, then the wider industry. Although less are confident in the New Zealand economy as a whole:

• 59% are confident in their businesses’ ability to withstand change and overcome challenges.
• 29% are confident in the outlook for the construction industry and 40% are neither confident nor unconfident. Which, in such volatile circumstances, makes good sense.
• Only 19% however, are confident in the New Zealand economy.

These results indicate that businesses are aware of the difficult climate but are confident in their short-term resiliency measures. Many are looking to retain, and in some cases, hire staff in the next 12 months. This is to help scale up to take on work that may be months or years in the future.

CCNZ and Teletrac Navman’s 2020 Construction Industry Survey results are cautiously optimistic – when reviewed in the current climate. There’s been a seismic shake to New Zealand’s construction sector and the wider economy. But the industry is indicating that, if businesses can stay resilient in the short-term, there’s plenty to be excited about over the next decade.