Gib board shortage: Taking advantage of desperate home builders is despicable - Samantha Motion

OPINION:

Building a new house or having major renovations done is usually an incredibly rewarding experience - once you're done with the incredibly stressful process.

I did it in 2016. It was a house-and-land package build - among the most straightforward of new-home options.

Mortgage rates were dropping, the Special Housing Areas legislation the National Government brought in (now defunct) helped speed up some administrative parts of the build process, and pandemics were events of the past rather than the present.

The whole process - from title to code compliance - was wrapped up in about five months.

It may not have been an architectural marvel, but it was warm, dry, safe, easy to maintain, and nicer than many of the rentals I lived in during the decade prior - the days before the Labour Government brought in Healthy Home Standards.

There were a few hiccups along the way, but the most stressful part was the looming threat of a significant delay.

Time is money when you are paying rent and a mortgage.

With hindsight, I could better appreciate what a smooth run we had - especially when I looked at the challenges some new-home buyers and renovators are facing now.

A building boom has collided with the pandemic and other economic forces to create material supply disruptions and shortages, as well as a scarcity of nearly every kind of building professional - from builders to plumbers to council building inspectors. The impacts are causing project holdups all over the show.

On Monday, we reported how the production of widely used interior cladding, gib plasterboard, cannot keep up with the demand.

This led to fears of the shortage creating a "black market" online, with reports of a single sheet listed for five times its normal cost, stockpiling and "opportunists" cashing in.

We can't know a seller's motivations for setting a high price, but if it is the case that traders are artificially driving up prices for materials to take advantage of desperate builders and renovators, that's despicable in my view.

It may be simple market economics - supply and demand - but I believe it's still a ruthless way to make a quick buck.

The Productivity Commission found we already pay 20 to 30 per cent more than Australia for building supplies, and 28 per cent product price rises are being clocked lately.

I had a great building experience overall and I would love to do another, but when it came time to sell recently, I decided not to build right now.

There are ways to manage the risks, chiefly doing a lot of due diligence and using trusted, well-resourced professionals who can sail above the choppy waters.

But be prepared to join the queue.