Gib crisis: Auckland developer importing four containers a month from Bangkok

Shane Brealey at the Point England site - not suffering from the Gib crisis. Photo / Supplied

An Auckland builder/developer is so frustrated by the lack of Gib plasterboard supply here that he is importing four containers of alternative products from Asia each month in an attempt to break the supply chain deadlock.

Shane Brealey, managing director and chairman of Simplicity Living which is building 334 new Point England and Oranga homes, is buying plasterboard from GM Gypsum, Thailand.

At the 132-home Kupenga, Point England on 1ha of ex-state-owned Tāmaki Regeneration Company land, 132 build-to-rent terraced homes are under construction. Rent will be paid to KiwiSaver provider Simplicity.

Brealey would have been forced to shut that site for months without Thai plasterboard.

David Thomas, Winstone Wallboards' general manager. Photo / Chris Gorman

He says he gets it faster and cheaper than Fletcher Building-owned Winstone Wallboard's Gib, with 94 per cent of our market. David Thomas is Winstone Wallboard's general manager.

Design and consenting is underway for Simplicity to build a further 411 homes in Mt Wellington and in Owairaka, so getting plasterboard was a huge priority.

Without going to Asia, Brealey would be forced to shut two big projects, hurting dozens of subcontractors and hundreds of workers.

"By bringing attention to this alternative, we hope it will help other builders and consumers find a solution through this plasterboard supply crisis," he said.

Shane Brealey graphically shows how much better the Thai plasterboard is for his business. Photo / Supplied

Four containers a month, holding 9600sq m of board, will be imported from Thailand.

He said it was cheaper and got here faster than the locally-made Gib.

"It's 100 per cent pure gypsum because there's a big gypsum supply from a natural deposit near the plant which is in Bangkok. The plant has been supplying the United States and Pacific markets for a long time and has been certified by SGS to meet the AS/NZ Standards.

"We can't get Gib from Winstones within eight months. We can get it from Thailand in eight weeks," he said.

Simplicity could not operate using Gib alone.

"We needed Gib in May. Winstones were telling us in January of a three to four-month lead time. Here we are in the middle of June and they still can't confirm they can supply us anything before Christmas!"

A Fletcher Building spokesperson indicated that the business wasn't concerned about rival imports.

Brealey: forced to go overseas for a basic product like plasterboard. Photo / Supplied

"We 100 per cent believe in a free market and support any initiatives to supply plasterboard to the industry that will help meet the high levels of demand New Zealand is currently experiencing," the spokesperson said.

Brealey said he was forced to take matters into his own hands.

"Now we'll bring all our plasterboard in from Thailand," he said, indicating a decade-long relationship.

Prices were cheaper, even with high freight costs.

"For standard board, it's 20 per cent cheaper and for moisture-resistant, it's around 40 per cent cheaper when we buy in the larger volumes we are."

Standard Gib is $25/sheet, whereas Thai plasterboard is $19.50/sheet, including $11.75 freight.

Standard Gib aquiline is $30/sheet whereas the Thai equivalent is $19/sheet, including $11.25 freight.

"We've been forced to find an alternative source to keep our supply of affordable homes. Our work would grind to a standstill if it weren't for us doing this. We're tenacious and we've got volume on our side.

"We already bring in plywood and bricks from overseas that are not available locally. Our preference is always to buy local, however, when the local market can't supply, we have to bring in materials that work for our construction system. We've only experienced a 10 per cent rise in construction costs in the last five years.

"Material prices have gone crazy, along with wages which isn't such a bad thing. But we've been able to streamline through a production mindset to offset the majority of the ravages of runaway inflation.

"Because of our solid construction methods using concrete walls and floors, steel and bricks we only need standard and moisture resistant plasterboard. Alternative products to Fyreline and Braceline may take councils a little longer to accept," he said of certification standards.

Councils are requiring Branz assessments of imported plasterboard.

That was a huge barrier to bringing in overseas building products, Brealey said.

"We're just at the start of the failure of supply caused by our monopoly provider. They've got the position of privilege having 94 per cent market share. With that privilege comes responsibility and they haven't exercised that."

NZ only has about a third of the Gib board needed from August to October this year.

David Thomas at Winstone's Penrose wallboard factory. Photo / Chris Gorman

Brealey denied volume demand resulted in the shortage "but it was completely avoidable because building consent numbers had already showed the uplift coming. You typically need the Gib board about 12 months after consents are lodged."

Nor was Covid a key factor, he said.

"How come we have concrete, framing, doors, windows, roofing, hardware and everything else – but we only have about a third of what we need in the simplest of products – Gib board?" he asked.

He backs the Commerce Commission inquiry into building product pricing.