One new quantity surveyor every year

QUBE director Mick Moffatt, left, with his new GM Terry Fahey. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER
QUBE director Mick Moffatt, left, with his new GM Terry Fahey. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER
An experienced Queenstown quantity surveyor who struck out on his own nine years ago says the firm’s enjoyed good year-on-year growth, having completed almost 2000 projects.

Mick Moffatt’s QUBE now has nine full-time quantity surveyors (QSs) and four part-timers.

"We’ve employed a new QS just about every year."

Two full-timers are in the Tauranga office Moffatt’s business partner Nick Howell set up a year ago.

"We were always looking for a North Island base and Nick had a desire to be in a warmer climate and by the beach so he proposed the idea of Tauranga."

Though it’s been a slow start, "there’s certainly some green shoots now and hopefully that moves into a better 2026".

Meanwhile, QUBE’s also just onboarded its first GM, Terry Fahey, a QS from Dunedin.

Fahey says though locals might think the construction scene’s "less stressed", it’s still "very buoyant" in the Southland/Otago context.

Moffatt says over the years people’s appetites for spending more on Queenstown houses has increased.

"A good starting point is probably $5million, and then between that and $15m is kind of normal.

"Twenty-five years ago, $1000 a square metre was a nice budget, fast-forward and people are spending up to $2000 a square metre for high-spec homes."

Though construction cost increases have eased, "people generally see value in there being no better time to build than today".

"You won’t be more cost-effective in six months."

Some of QUBE’s commercial projects have included Lake Hayes’ Ayrburn hospo precinct — for which Cook Brothers Construction won awards at last week’s New Zealand Commercial Awards — and Arthurs Point’s Brew Hall, Glenorchy’s The Headwaters Eco Lodge, Arrowtown’s The Fork & Tap and Frankton’s Driftaway campground.

 

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