Firms prepare to line thousands of NZ homes

Production of Pink Batts will be boosted to meet increases in demand. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The 900,000 New Zealand houses with inadequate insulation are a potential boost for businesses preparing to increase production.

Chris Ellis, building products chief executive at Fletcher Building, estimates about 900,000 of the country's 1.4 million houses have poor insulation and he was delighted with the Government's desire to make places warmer.

As part of the Budget, the Government will today unveil a home insulation subsidy scheme for private home owners to be funded via councils, banks and power companies.

Home owners will be able to get a loan for insulation on homes built before 2000, only some of which will have to be repaid.

Means-testing, which had locked higher income-earners out of subsidies, will be lifted.

Ellis said most New Zealand houses were extremely poorly insulated.

"Those 900,000 houses might have some insulation, but it's inadequate."

Fletcher's Auckland Pink Batts plant, now running five days a week, would soon run seven days a week and more shifts were needed to make enough insulation to meet rising consumer demand, Ellis said.

Staff being made redundant at Fletcher's Duroid plant, which manufactures foils and building paper, might shift to the Penrose insulation plant. "We are going to be able to cope with the increase in the demand via a number of people from others parts of the business who would have been made redundant."

Shifts and working hours at the Hornby plant in Christchurch are also being examined by Fletcher executives.

Fletcher's building products division made sales worth $739 million in the year to June 2008.

Operating earnings were $148 million but earnings from insulation were up 12 per cent.

Fletcher shares rose 7c yesterday to $6.40.

Locally owned Expol, which makes polystyrene insulation for underfloor, wall and ceiling insulation, is also geared up to meet more demand.

Wayne Watson, Expol's technical manager, said the firm was also interested in today's announcement but wanted more details.

Expol had supplied thousands of houses with insulation and had a national installation service, he said. An average house cost $900 to insulate using Expol products and $600 for installation.

Expol had been running since 2001 and demand was rising., he said. Energy savings of at least 10 per cent were possible after underfloor insulation had been installed.

SNUG AND WARM

Insulation players sell:

FLETCHER INSULATION:
* Pink Batts
* Fat Batts
* Permastop
* Vapa-Chek roofing blanket
* reflective foil laminates
* Tuffstuff wall wraps

BUNNINGS:
* Distributes CSR's Bradford Gold

EXPOL:
* Has polystyrene products
* Mainly underfloor insulation