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Strengthening relationships between home builders and clients

Amid the housing shortage, building a new house needs to be an appealing option for homeowners. By identifying key issues and tensions during the new-build process, BRANZ is helping the industry build fit-for-purpose homes with less stress for builders and clients alike.

Published August 2023

The home-building process can be challenging for both builders and clients. With the percentage of first-time home-building clients increasing from 47% in 2013 to 66% in 2022, it is even more important to help builders and clients navigate the process well.

For people not well versed in the industry, it can be difficult to understand build practices and technical aspects. Clients, particularly those lacking build experience, are often confused about the process and find communicating with their builder challenging.

These miscommunications also have a negative impact on builders. Disagreements during builds are common, and if poorly resolved, they cause significant stress for builders. Nearly 75% of builders surveyed by BRANZ said tension in their relationships with clients affected their mental health, with over half experiencing moderate to high symptoms of depression and anxiety.

This year, BRANZ completed a series of research projects to better understand expectation gaps and tension points in the builder-client relationship. The research showed that industry practices need to change to provide more client support and better communication during the build process. Amid the housing shortage, building a new house needs to be an appealing option for homeowners. By identifying key issues and tensions during the new-build process, BRANZ is helping the industry build fit-for-purpose homes with less stress for builders and clients alike.

In response, BRANZ is developing resources and tools to help builders better manage client expectations and provide support for navigating conflict.

The Building together guide, released in March 2023, is one example. The guide outlines the key areas that can cause tensions and the essentials for setting up a positive relationship.

This is one of a range of ways that BRANZ is supporting the industry to reduce stress and tension for them and their clients. It is another small but important step towards making it easier and more efficient to build new high-performing and liveable homes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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BRANZ (2023). Building together: A guide for building strong client relationships. branz.co.nz/pubs/research-now/building-sector-wellbeing/building-together-a-guide-for-building-strong-client-relationships