SR315 Small construction firms in New Zealand (2019)

Small firms (0-5 employees) make up about 91% of the construction industry. It is not known how efficient they are in use of time or exactly what mix of work they undertake. In order to improve productivity, we need to better understand the work types, contractual arrangements and how work is obtained, for this large segment of the industry. This report first looks at the shape of the industry. It shows the number of small firms and employment in small firms, as well as births and deaths of firms and firm profits.

We identify how they spend their time, what work types they engage in, how they procure clients, what types of contract and payment they use, where they obtain their business advice and what factors they believe have the largest influence on their productivity/performance. We are able to compare these factors with medium and large firms to see how firm size affects behaviour and/or outcomes.