ANALYSIS: Govt will have to pay up for high-rise and other construction

Sun, 22 Sep 2019

By Jenny Ruth Sept. 23 (BusinessDesk) - If New Zealand's construction industry is to thrive, the bottom line is that clients, particularly government ones, are going to have to pay more for buildings. Steve Killeen, chief executive of Downer's New Zealand operations, spelled out the numbers at an industry conference earlier this month. Any "decent" construction company wants to achieve a 3 percent profit margin after tax, Killeen told the conference, implying that a 7 percent gross margin is required to maintain the status quo to avoid...

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