Gib shortage 'over' due to construction industry slowdown

Wednesday, 3 August 2022

Builders across the country say the plasterboard supply crisis is over because of a slowdown in the construction industry.

A drop in building consents and construction activity, combined with the supply of other plasterboard brands had meant the product had been easier to access recently than it had been in the last six months, they said.

Your Place Building director Josh Chapman​ said the plasterboard supply crisis was over for his firm, but so was the boom time for the construction industry.

“Jobs that a month ago would have been a shoo-in are not going ahead. These jobs that are not happening are having a greater impact on the supply chain than anything else,” Chapman​ said.

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In May the chief executives of Master Builders and the New Zealand Building Industry Federation said the sector was entering a downturn, as high costs and falling house prices made many projects untenable.

Chapman​ said the industry downturn meant plasterboard was now widely available, as demand for the product dried up.

The Government taskforce assigned to address the plasterboard shortage had made sure alternative plasterboard brands, Elephant Board, USG Boral, ProRoc and SaveBOARD were approved under Building Code requirements for bracing qualities, so the brands could be exchanged for Gib.

Fletcher Building-owned Winstone Wallboards also put in place a Gib allocation system in which it allocated plasterboard stock to builders based on the date requested and the level of immediate needs.

A Fletcher Building spokesperson said the company was seeing “positive trends” that indicated its allocation model was working.

In May and June, 25% of builders that ordered Gib had delivery rescheduled to a later date between one to two months ahead.

By July this number had dropped to 18% and was continuing to ease, the spokesperson said.

The Fletcher Building representative said most builders had advised their sites were not actually ready for plasterboard.

“We want to reassure the market we will continue to run our plants continuously until our new plant commences production in May 2023.”

But Chapman​ said the allocation system also caused headaches for builders.

“We are ordering Gib before the digger has arrived at site, whereas we used to order it two weeks out from use. It is definitely making the management of builds more time sensitive.”

Mark Trafford​, managing director and founder of national renovations franchise Maintain To Profit, said builders were planning projects months in advance.

“Builders are definitely having to be more organised. If builders are ordering product further out, that also means clients are having to make a financial commitment to the project earlier,” Trafford​ said.

The easing of the shortage was not due to any change from Winstone Wallboards, but the arrival of alternative products in the country, he said.

Builders on Facebook were even finding themselves with surplus supplies of Gib board and offering to sell on or gift to other builders, a marked change from some hoarding seen during the shortage, he said.

“We are definitely helping each other out, but are not out of the woods yet by any means.”

Ockham Construction chief operating officer Ben Gibbens​ said as far as his firm was concerned, there was no Gib supply crisis any more.

“We are getting our board on the dates we agree to, we have nothing to complain about,” Gibbens​ said.

From what he has seen from the broader industry, the Gib allocation system was working fine for both larger and SME building firms, he said.

Benton Construction owner Nigel Benton​ said plasterboard was a lot easier to get than it was some months ago.

“There are now people who have it in storage that are trying to dump it. It’s a funny old world,” Benton​ said.