Plasterboard demand fills 15 containers fast
Plasterboard 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 orders had not even opened yet.
Container Door allows Kiwis to share the cost of shipping containers, with orders placed once a container could be filled.
The company planned to start processing pre-sales for NZcertified foreign plasterboard last night. Nathan said he expected to easily fill 20 containers almost immediately.
‘‘I have had some bigger companies now asking: how many can we have?
‘‘They are wanting containers and containers of them, so I suppose during next week it is likely to climb.’’
Nathan 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 metres by 1.2m plasterboard, which would cost just under $30 per sheet before trade discounts.
Nathan said that was the cheapest he had seen plasterboard recently.
Gib plasterboard was recently listed for sale at Bunnings for roughly $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 via Trade Me, and other builders’ supplies being stolen.
Nathan said the first shipments would likely be coming from China but Container Door had contacts at several factories around Southeast Asia.
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 the product 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 am not a builder, so I don’t actually know, so we are 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 board is specified on consented building plans, it can’t easily be swapped for something else but builders working on smaller renovation projects that don’t require consents have more freedom over material choice.
Last week Fletcher Building said its subsidiary, Winstone Wallboards, would ramp up production of Gib plasterboard by between 7% and 8% between July and September.
Winstone currently has 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 were not 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 some alternatives.