Australians head the list of skilled overseas workers lining up to chase the Bay's predicted $2.3 billion construction bonanza.
The previously unheard of situation of Australians crossing the Tasman to chase the money has been revealed by Tauranga personnel recruitment specialist Ian Chitty.
Mr Chitty was commenting on how tradesmen and civil and structural engineers will plug the labour shortage expected during New Zealand's "golden era" of construction.
The National Construction Report issued by the Government this week says the country was entering a "golden era" worth $100 billion by 2017.
Mr Chitty said the Bay was moving from the tail of the downturn to the beginning of a growth phase. "We are starting to see labour shortages, particularly around commercial building construction and infrastructure projects."
The managing director of Personnel Resources/Temp Resources said all the predictions of growth had started to hit the Bay, which was competing for skilled labour with the rest of New Zealand, particularly Auckland and Christchurch.
He said it was inevitable that wages would rise as the pool of Kiwi labour dried up and transient overseas workers arrived to take work on a project-by-project basis. Labourers were earning $700 to $800 a week, qualified tradespeople $900 to $1200 a week, and civil and structural engineers $1400 to $2000 a week.
The saviour for the Bay would be government immigration policies and getting enough of its own young people into trades. "That is how we will get through this," Mr Chitty said.
He was starting to see a lot of interest from skilled Filipino workers although the greatest number of applications had come from Australians.
Mr Chitty said this almost unheard of situation was caused by Australia's high cost structure combined with wages dropping as its economy slowed.
Aussies were lured by New Zealand's lower cost structure.
The Labour Department was also letting in more people with one- and two-year visas. Nationalities he was dealing with included Irish, English, Welsh and Indian. "They are not here permanently. They see New Zealand as having good prospects."
Not all the work would be new houses and commercial premises. Earthquake strengthening and leaky home rebuilds were important components. Certified Builders Western BOP president Mike Way said he was struggling to find staff, and a number of builders had stopped quoting for work for six weeks.
"Most guys are well into next year with their order books," Mr Way said.
He did not think the industry could cope with the type of growth predicted in the Government report. "People [customers] will have to be pretty patient."
Tauranga Boys' College careers advisor Hans Meys said the numbers had remained consistent over the years of students entering apprenticeships or doing their training at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. One in four of the Year 9 intake went on to do degrees, with one-quarter to one-third of the boys leaving at the end of Year 12 to do trades, go to the polytechnic or take other jobs.
Malcolm Hardy, head of the School of Applied Technology at the polytechnic, said there were about 120 carpentry apprentices doing courses at the polytech and about 60 full-time carpentry students.
Apprentices had increased strongly this year, with trades students also up. Numbers were increasing rapidly and the school was expecting another 50 or more to do apprenticeship programmes next year.
"We're getting more middle-aged people. There are larger numbers of people in their 20s to 40s," Mr Hardy said.