Fletcher Building to ramp up Gib production 7%, developer says it's a 'drop in the bucket'

Thursday, 16 June 2022

Fletcher Building has apologised after a Canterbury builder captured video evidence of Gib stockpiling at a Fletcher Living construction site in Lincoln.

Fletcher Building says its subsidiary company Winstone Wallboards will ramp up the production of Gib plasterboard between 7% and 8% between July and September.

The escalated production would bring an additional one million square meters of Gib into the market, the company estimated.

But Simplicity Living managing director Shane Brealey said the increase in Gib was a “drop in the bucket” compared to what the building industry needed.

Brealey estimated the demand for plasterboard outstripped supply by 300%. An increase of 7% would do little, he said.

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Fletcher Building says it will bring a supply of an additional one million square meters of Gib into the market over the next few months.

“We are past the stage of this being a critical issue. Hundreds of businesses from all over the country need plasterboard now. This increase will do next to nothing for them,” Brealey said.

Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor said the company was willing to do everything possible to alleviate the plasterboard shortage.

The escalation in production was possible due to changes in plasterboard manufacturing that had been in the works over the past few months, he said.

The company had also secured additional board imported from an Australian manufacturer.

Merchant customers such as Carters and Placemakers could expect additional plasterboard supply from July 1.

Placemakers, which is owned by Fletcher Building, will put aside a portion of the plasterboard for builders with “critical needs”, Taylor said.

“This emergency supply pool will be directed to those with the most pressing needs. It’s reasonable to expect that the other building merchants will sell their extra volume to the builders who both can use it immediately and who need it the most,” Taylor said.

Fletcher Building was on track to open its new plant in Tauriko, Tauranga next year, which it said would increase plasterboard production a further 50%.

Winstone Wallboards produces 94% of plasterboard in New Zealand.

Major housing developers, shareholders, and architects have asked Fletcher Building to explain how a major supply crisis of a domestically produced key building material occurred.

Simplicity Living cancelled all its orders for Fletcher Building Gib board and was directly importing plasterboard from a producer in Thailand.