Demand for foreign plasterboard fills 15 containers before sales even start

Sunday, 19 June 2022

A shortage of Gib has become a major issue for builders.

Gib shortages that have left builds stalled around the country have led to an 'overwhelming demand' for foreign plasterboard, Container Door chief executive Ben Nathan says.

On Friday, the company emailed customers to get a feel for demand for foreign plasterboard.

Nathan said he had enough interest to fill 15 containers with plasterboard – each of which could carry 900 sheets – and sales hadn’t even opened yet.

Container Door allows Kiwis to share the cost of shipping containers, with orders placed once a container could be filled.

**READ MORE:

Container Door chief executive Ben Nathan says he started the company to allow smaller players to import products, and be less reliant on large importers.

* GIB and the competitive problems of plasterboard

* Is there a building materials goldmine in your garage?

* Shortage sees builders buy Gib board for six times retail price on Trade Me

Builders often face heavy finance costs when builds are delayed by the likes of Gib shortages.

The company planned to start processing pre-sale for NZ-certified foreign plasterboard on Sunday night. Nathan said he expected to easily fill 20 containers almost immediately.

“I’ve had some bigger companies now asking ‘how many can we have?’ They’re wanting containers and containers of them, so I suppose during next week it’s likely to climb.”

Nathan said Container Door said there would be a preference shown to buyers making larger orders.

“We get the orders, we put them in, they go into an allotment, and it doesn’t matter if you order 1000 or 10,000.”

Container Door has a minimum order of 30 sheets of standard 2.4 by 1.2 metre plasterboard, which would cost just under $30 per sheet before trade discounts.

Nathan said that was the cheapest he had seen plasterboard recently.

Gib was recently listed for sale at Bunnings for rougly $33 per sheet before any trade discount is applied, and there have been stories of desperate builders purchasing sheets for six-times the retail price from Trade Me, and other builders having their supplies stolen.

Nathan said the first shipments would likely be coming from China, but Container Door had contacts at several factories around South East Asia where they could purchase from in future.

The plasterboard is expected to arrive in New Zealand in September or October.

“It could be earlier, but we don’t want to overpromise and under deliver. We know there are shipping delays.”

Nathan said it would pass through a third-party testing facility to ensure it was up to New Zealand specifications.

Buyers would have to pick up the plasterboard from Container Door’s depot in Panmure.

Nathan said builders were now emailing him to find out what other products he could get shipped in.

“I’m not a builder, so I don’t actually know, so we’re going to go back out to that same community and ask: what else are you wanting?”

For some, foreign alternatives may not be an option.

If Gib is specified on your consented building plans, you can’t easily swap it for something else but builders working on smaller renovation projects that don’t require consents have more freedom over material choice.

On June 16, Fletcher Building said its subsidiary Winstone Wallboards would ramp up production of Gib plasterboard between 7% and 8% between July and September.

Winstone currently made up roughly 94% of the plasterboard market in New Zealand.

Fletchers has been criticised recently for seeming to stockpile gib at its own construction sites when builds weren’t yet ready for its installation, in violation of its own policy, and for trademarking certain colours, which has resulted in builders not being able to import alternaties.