New Zealand's large-scale construction industry will “die” unless there's a major “reset”, the country’s Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones said. The stark warning comes after crisis talks in New Zealand last week between Government ministers and industry heads, following the demise of several construction companies.

According to Jones, New Zealand's construction industry is on its way to the emergency room and is in need of urgent attention. He told one local paper: “This is a health episode, and when a health episode strikes an organisation, a sector or an individual, you do a reset - or else you contemplate certain death.”

Casualties have been piling up in recent years in the “vertical construction” sector, which mainly deals with high-rise commercial or government buildings. Ebert Construction went into receivership last week, owing NZ$40m to creditors - costing 80 jobs and leaving the future of 15 projects in doubt. 

In addition, the country's largest construction company, Fletcher Building, announced a complete pull-out of “vertical construction” earlier this year after losing hundreds of millions of dollars on low-margin projects, including Auckland's Skycity convention centre and the Justice Precinct in Christchurch.

The report concludes that the damage is being caused by “price-pinching” when clients aggressively push for the lowest cost when tendering projects. It's a system the New Zealand Government - which is responsible for 18% of all vertical construction projects - has been accused of exploiting.