The Kiwi trades guide
No cowboys.
Just good tradies.
BuildHub is the straight-up guide to New Zealand's trades: researched shortlists of who's actually good in your city, what the job should really cost, and the consent and licensing rules that keep you covered.
How BuildHub works
Three steps to the right tradie
Search your job and town
Every guide covers one trade in one place, so you get local answers, not a national directory dump.
Read the research
We shortlist real businesses, check licensing against the public registers, and publish realistic price ranges for the job.
Call the top pick, then compare
Start with our number one, get a written quote, and always line it up against at least one more. Good tradies expect that.
Browse
Popular trades
Free cost calculators
Know what it should cost before anyone quotes you
Our calculators are built from real New Zealand pricing, not guesswork. No signup, no email, no catch: pick your job, get a realistic range, and walk into every quote conversation knowing the numbers.
Latest guides
Fresh research, city by city
The 5 Best Roofing Companies in Hamilton
Five Hamilton roofing outfits worth a quote, what a re-roof really costs in the Waikato, and when a repair beats a replacement.
The 5 Best Concrete Contractors in New Plymouth
Five New Plymouth concrete outfits worth a quote, what a driveway really costs in Taranaki, and the prep questions that separate good concrete from cracked concrete.
The 5 Best Retaining Wall Builders in Auckland
Five wall crews worth your quote round, costs per square metre by wall type, and the consent fine print that catches Auckland homeowners.
The 5 Best Concrete Layers in South Auckland
Five concrete crews worth your quote round, what a slab really costs in 2026, and why South Auckland clay punishes cheap ground prep.
The 5 Best Scaffolding Companies in Auckland
Five scaffolding crews worth calling, what a house wrap really costs, and the certification rule most homeowners have never heard of.
The 5 Best Paving Contractors in Auckland
Five paving crews worth a quote, what pavers really cost per square metre, and the base preparation shortcut that ruins driveways within two winters.
How we rank
Research you can actually check
Shortlisted from scratch
Every business in every guide is individually researched. Nothing is scraped, syndicated or auto-generated, and no ranking is ever sold.
Checked against the registers
Where licensing matters we point to the public record: the LBP register for builders, the EWRB for electricians, WorkSafe rules for scaffolding and asbestos.
Honest about pricing
Our price ranges come from published NZ rates and real quotes, and we tell you when a figure is indicative. Written quotes always win.
From the blog
Know your rights, consents and costs
Retaining Wall Rules in NZ: The 1.5 Metre Consent Line
The famous 1.5 metre exemption has one word buried in it that voids the whole thing for half the walls in the country: surcharge.
LBP, Master Builders, NZCB: NZ Builder Credentials Explained
One of these three badges is a legal licence. The other two are memberships. Knowing which is which changes how you hire.
How to Compare Builder Quotes in NZ Without Getting Burned
The cheapest quote is often the most expensive decision you will make on a renovation. Here is how to read builder quotes properly.