Pacific builders see work return but the fight for steady jobs continues - owner

For Pasifika builders and apprentices, the construction industry may finally be showing signs of life.

But getting back to steady work is proving just as important as getting more jobs.

Freedom Anae Feulufai, a construction business owner in Auckland, says work is “slowly on the rise” after a difficult period that saw his workforce shrink from about 15 or 16 people at its peak to seven.

The 36-year-old owns residential building company AR Built and says the biggest challenge now is keeping enough work coming in to keep his workers employed.

“Not just for me, it’s just to keep the boys, because I know I’m putting food on their table for their families. It’s my main worry,” he tells PMN News.

AR Built currently has about a month of work booked - a pipeline Feulufai considers short.

Listen to Freedom Anae Feulufai's full interview below.

“I can definitely see clients being more careful of spending their money at the moment,” he said.

“They’re getting multiple quotes and sometimes the process is taking a little bit longer than usual.”

National figures suggest the wider industry is beginning to recover.

The Master Builders 2026 State of the Sector survey found 68 per cent of member firms now describe their forward work pipeline as strong or steady, up from 64 per cent last year.

But 87 per cent say weak consumer demand is a major concern.

The value of actual building work reached $8.2 billion in the June quarter, up 5.2 per cent from the same period last year.

Residential building work rose 11 per cent to $5.2b while non-residential work fell 3.4 per cent to $2.9b.

Feulufai says recovery should include more opportunities for locally owned businesses.

“There’s definitely work out there, I think it all depends on the rates - where someone would just cut you by so much that you just have to say no.”

Lexiga Pritchard is in her final year of a fabrication apprenticeship with training organisation Competenz. Photo/Supplied

He wants to see “the majority of local companies getting the big jobs, instead of these overseas ones”.

Despite the downturn, Feulufai has continued investing in his workers. Three or four have already qualified, while others are still working towards their qualifications.

“I want to get them all qualified so that if they leave me, they don’t get ripped off.”

For Sāmoan fabrication apprentice Lexiga Pritchard, training has provided a different kind of security.

The 25-year-old left school at 16 to help support her family. She is now completing her final block course, installing equipment at Auckland Domestic Airport, and expects to finish her qualification later this year with training organisation, Competenz.

“A trade really helped out because, not only did I get paid for learning, it really boosted my confidence,” Pritchard tells PMN News.

Lexiga Pritchard says being an apprentice has allowed her to be paid while learning a trade, and built her confidence. Photo/Supplied

“I think it’s really important for Māori and Pasifika to know that these options are available.”

Pritchard says having people around her to support her training has also made a difference.

“If I didn’t have the right support system as well, I wouldn’t even know where I would be - to be honest.”

The Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) says 971 Pasifika learners are currently training through its programmes, making up about eight per cent of its total learners.

BCITO told PMN News it does not have employer uptake or retention data broken down by apprentice ethnicity, but “some Pasifika-owned and family-run businesses have made strong efforts to keep apprentices connected to work and training through the downturn”.

Employers and training organisations say economic recovery will depend not only on creating jobs, but on making sure apprentices and workers have strong pipelines and confidence in future work.

BCITO supports more than 900 Pasifika training as apprenctices across the building sector. Photo/BCITO