Fuel has been the biggest construction cost driver in 2026, according to QV CostBuilder. Its figures show diesel rose 109.8% between February and April 2026. Excavation trade rates went up 7.8% in March and another 7.9% in April.
Prices have bounced around since. Diesel fell 18.9% between the end of April and May, and excavation rates dropped 5.1%.
Then diesel rebounded in August, when excavation rose 4.3% and demolition 3.7%. “Excavation and demolition are particularly exposed to fuel movements, so when diesel jumps, those trades tend to feel it quickly,” says Martin Bisset, quantity surveyor at QV CostBuilder.
Lawyers at Wynn Williams note that NZS 3910 applies cost escalation unless the parties opt out in the Specific Conditions, but since COVID-19 most contracts don’t allow for it. Where escalation has been excluded on a fixed-price job, the contractor will generally be taken to have accepted the risk of price movements within its tendered price, they say. They also point to NZS 3910’s early warning notices where a matter may materially affect the contract price.
At Hirepool, the battery option sits at the small end. It lists a battery-powered towable excavator, a 1,970kg JCB 19C-1E with a listed run time of four hours. At 21 October 2026 its default national rate was $787.95 for 24 hours including GST and damage waiver, with a seven-day minimum hire.
Hirepool says pricing varies by branch and not every product is at every branch. Further up the size range, it lists a hybrid excavator in the 20 to 24 tonne class, priced on application.
Charging is the practical question on site. When Hirepool added Takeuchi’s TB20e compact excavator to its range in 2024, it listed a 24.7kWh lithium-ion battery with up to eight hours of continuous work, depending on application and environment.
The machine has an onboard charger that runs off single-phase power and an off-board three-phase charger that takes two to four hours. Hirepool says operators can charge it during breaks, at the end of the day or while tethered.
EECA’s Low Emission Transport Fund has co-funded bigger electric gear. In Round 7, Brian Perry Civil got $432,855 for a zero-emission construction crew using an electric excavator, tipper and wheel loader, with 60kW and 90kW chargers. Isaac Construction got $285,500 to test what EECA called the first electrified road crew in New Zealand.
In Round 16, which closed in March 2025, 3i OPCO got $160,150 to demonstrate an electric excavator unloading cargo in ships’ holds.
Auckland Transport has a target to halve embodied emissions by 2031 against a 2021/22 baseline. Its 2024/25 sustainability report said it launched a sustainability reporting portal for contractors that year, and used actual data from four projects to measure emissions. The same report said AT’s new Low Carbon Concrete Practice Note would be used in contracts for FY26, and more capital projects would come under its waste requirements through procurement in 2025/26.
The report credits low-carbon concrete in the Eastern Busway flyover with a substantial cut in embodied emissions. Embodied emissions rose 13% on the year before, while capital spend was up 20%.
Earthworks carry another environmental line item, and it’s soil, not exhaust. Otago Regional Council has released a second edition of its Residential Earthworks Guide, following tougher residential earthworks rules in the Regional Plan: Water for Otago.
The new edition adds sections on working in waterways and managing dewatering water on site. It also brings in a five-point High-Risk Checklist covering soils, topography, climate, scale and receiving environments, to flag early when a site needs specialised design. ORC says Erosion and Sediment Control Plans are required for most of the consents it grants.
Simon Wilson, ORC’s compliance manager, says Otago’s fine soils, such as loess and glacial till, are hard to capture once they’re suspended in water. That’s why the new edition puts the emphasis on stopping erosion in the first place, he says.
In Auckland, the reference document is Auckland Council’s GD05, the Erosion and Sediment Control Guide for Land Disturbing Activities, now in its August 2023 edition incorporating amendment 3. GD05 says its main audience is designers and the contractors who build, run and maintain erosion and sediment controls.
QV says fuel remains one of the most volatile inputs in construction. Bisset says anyone budgeting for a build still needs to allow for cost movement, particularly in the fuel-sensitive parts of the job, and QV CostBuilder updates its figures monthly.
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