One Wellington homeowner has described how she has had to resort to begging on social media to try and get access to supplies she needs to finish repairs to her property.
Tabitha Newton moved out of her home nearly a year-and-a-half ago in order to get some repairs done.
However, she told Breakfast that due to delays in accessing materials such as jibbing, it’s now unlikely that she will be able to move in until after Christmas.
“It’s a major stress all the time to be thinking about,” she says. “All our money is sunk into that. We’ve been living with family and friends and out of a bag.”
Newton says she’s seen jibbing being sold for thousands of dollars on Trade Me auctions and that she’s willing to pay the extortionate prices just to get the repairs finished.
“We’re looking for a middling amount compared to a big house build.”
Carl Taylor, Chairperson of the Combined Building Supplies Cooperative, says that while Covid hasn’t helped the situation, it’s mainly a supply and demand issue.
“We’ve never built this many houses. We haven’t needed this volume of materials before.”
“In 2020, we built just over 39,000 homes. In 2021, we’ve done over 48,000.”
He says the average 4-bedroom house, which usually takes four to six months to build is now taking more than 12.
Taylor believes what’s compounding the problem is a lack of competition. Builders currently only have one supplier because rival businesses have found it too hard to gain a foothold in New Zealand.
That’s leading to a hoarding of materials.
“Some of the bigger guys have been stockpiling. I guess it’s good forward-thinking but it doesn’t help the issue.”
Taylor says there’s nothing anyone can really do at the moment except weather out the storm.
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