nickb800: Things are tight across the building industry.

Here in Wellington, Mitre 10 recently switched to CHH for their structural timber after Timberlink in Blenheim shut down. So who knows who they'll go to next - Red Stag won't necessarily have oodles of spare timber.

The squeeze on structural timber follows on from strong demand for residential building post covid. Prenail manufacturers in Wellington are running at double the volumes they were pre covid - they will be sucking in a huge volume of structural timber.

Several James Hardie cladding products are out of stock in NZ until mid-May and mid-June.

Great time to be building a house!

Not a bad problem to have.

Timber grown here yes, but shipped to China to be processed before shipping back here.

Batman: Timber grown here yes, but shipped to China to be processed before shipping back here.

mdf: Don't know of any link to global shipping or covid issues though?

Stuff: A “perfect storm” had led to Carter Holt Harvey not being able to meet demand for a structural wood product called “wides” – 245mm wide timber used in a wide range of building applications, from flooring to trusses.

CHH are not the only supplier in town, so in that regard the story is a little inflamatory.  That said the building boom means timber is in short supply, we just can't mill it fast enough.  

tdgeek:

 

nickb800: Things are tight across the building industry.

Here in Wellington, Mitre 10 recently switched to CHH for their structural timber after Timberlink in Blenheim shut down. So who knows who they'll go to next - Red Stag won't necessarily have oodles of spare timber.

The squeeze on structural timber follows on from strong demand for residential building post covid. Prenail manufacturers in Wellington are running at double the volumes they were pre covid - they will be sucking in a huge volume of structural timber.

Several James Hardie cladding products are out of stock in NZ until mid-May and mid-June.

Great time to be building a house!

 

Not a bad problem to have.

 

It is a very bad time to consider building IMO. 18 months waiting list to get a good builder. In my town there are a lot of empty sections (a lot are probably speculators who have land banked, based on landing being resold at high prices), But very few are being currently built on. If builders can't get materials, it will delay the builds and delay houses being built, and put them under financial presume. Just try getting a builder to do anything at the moment, it is almost impossible. Been waiting many months to get a fence built and the work is booked in, and they have been blaming a lack of timber. It was supposed to be done by December last year. Then February. They haven't even started.

Lack of supply is also pushing up build prices.

The bottleneck for the housing crisis is going to be building and lack of good builder and materials. 

A lot of people have investments in forests made in the 1990s. These forests are not maturing and being  clear felled. So there should be a glut of timber ATM . But I suspect that much has been purchased cheaply from overseas. So much seem to be getting exported.

mattwnz: Just try getting a builder to do anything at the moment, it is almost impossible. Been waiting many months to get a fence built and the work is booked in, and they have been blaming a lack of timber. It was supposed to be done by December last year. Then February. They haven't even started.

Bung:

mattwnz: Just try getting a builder to do anything at the moment, it is almost impossible. Been waiting many months to get a fence built and the work is booked in, and they have been blaming a lack of timber. It was supposed to be done by December last year. Then February. They haven't even started.

Have you checked your local outlets? It might be worth knowing whether you have a shortage of fencing or a builder that's got too much other work.