There’s a crisis in the construction industry and you know what that means. That means it’s time for a crisis talk which is what happened yesterday.

Three Government Ministers met with various leaders from the industry. This after the Ebert construction company went into receivership last week. This followed Hawkins collapsing and Fletchers pulling out of the vertical construction sector completely, which is basically the building of taller buildings. Which is a worry as taller buildings are a big part of the solution to our housing crisis

Ministers Jones, Twyford and Salesa sat down with the industry to find out what’s wrong, even though what’s wrong is as plain as the nose on your face.

The people who want buildings built want the cheapest price they can get, so the people who manage building the buildings sharpen their pencil until there’s almost nothing left, apart from a minuscule piece of lead. Then the people who actually build the buildings, and who know how much it actually costs, try to build the building. Until the money runs out and everyone goes bust and we get some crappy buildings that need to be repaired 10 years later.

It’s the New Zealand way. We’ve been doing it forever. There’s a whole lot of buildings in our CBDs built in the 80s that were built to last for only 20 years. Then you’re supposed to rip them down and build a bigger one. Why build one good building when you can clip the ticket on two. Problem is they’re still there.

So why is this the government’s problem? That’s a good question as no-one forces the companies to bid low. If these private businesses can’t run their business then let the market decide. Let them go bust.

That’s not really an option that’s good for the overall health of our growing country. But there was something the government can do and apparently they’re going to do it.

Government construction jobs make up 18 per cent of the industry. From now on they’ve promised not to low ball their projects. It’s like everyone has had this Road to Damascus moment over the concept of “whole of life” construction. In other words, build it once, build it right and make sure it will still be fit for purpose in a lifetime.

If we had the whole of life then the Auckland Harbour Bridge would have always been eight lanes, not four, the city rail link would have had longer platforms. It’s worth remembering that the government was part of 2 of the projects that broke Fletchers. Christchurch’s Justice Precinct and the Auckland convention centre. The man low balling that. Steven Joyce.

So why do governments low ball the contractors? Well as Shane Jones said yesterday, “There's a huge duty on us to do nothing that worsens taxpayer liability”. In other words, we vote for the people who rip off the construction industry because they seem to be being careful with our money.

This is a false economy which has cost us dearly and will continue to cost us dearly.

Good on you if you voted for the destruction of the construction industry. That was wise and clever of you. Not!