The construction sector, whether internationally or locally, remains reliant on people and inter-relationships for positive project outcomes, for the client and stakeholders in particular. Employee motivation is generally regarded in literature as crucial in the drive for increased productivity by construction company managers. The research aim was to explore the motivational factors for employees working for a large New Zealand construction company, on arguably New Zealand’s largest ever construction project, effecting earthquake repairs on approximately 100,000 residential homes in Christchurch for the next 3-5 years. The employees were considered as a single group to establish the overall motivational factors, and then a selection of participants from the three occupational groups, being Project Managers, Construction Supervisors, Quantity Surveyors and Contract Administrators were interviewed. The aim was to establish whether differing occupational groups were motivated by differing motivational factors. A questionnaire was distributed to 39 employees, 33 responded. How well the international literature findings matched or differed from the research data findings gathered from the industry participants in Christchurch was analysed. The findings suggested that there were differing motivating factors, and importantly demotivating factors, for the selected occupational groups.