Page 30 - HW April 2022

rainwater management
Keeping heads
ABOVE WATER
Suppliers are working overtime to meet the varied rainwater management needs of the residential market. Andy Kerr goes with the flow in spouting, guttering and rainwater harvesting.
IT MIGHT NOT be a so-called “perfect storm”, but how’s this for a challenging business backdrop?
Residential building consents continue to go through the
roof, the home renovation sector remains in overdrive, growing environmental awareness and appreciation of water as a precious resource are amplifying calls for improved water management, and then there’s the small matter of a global pandemic.
That’s an awful lot to contend with in anyone’s book.
No wonder we caught Murray Brown dashing off for a well- earned break after what was a hectic first quarter for Browns Brushware.
But Murray did have time to relay one observation about the long, hot summer we’ve just enjoyed: “One thing that I think is evident is we’ve got a drier, windier climate to contend with, and there seems to be significantly more leaf fall early in the season compared with previously, at least from what I have seen as a property owner in Auckland.”
Few living in his neck of the woods would disagree. Consistently high temperatures and low moisture levels put trees under stress in the new year, underlining the merits of Browns’ core protective products like Gutter Whiskers and Gutter Guard.
In the Bay of Plenty, Roofing Industries Marketing Manager Paul Ross was enjoying the first truly crisp autumn start of 2022 when we managed to catch him at breakfast time.
Things have been so busy for the business that very early starts
have become Paul’s norm, and the complexities of Covid haven’t slowed the introduction of new and innovative product releases from Roofing Industries.
“We’re running 24-hour shifts and if you take fascia alone, there’s literally truckloads of fascia leaving the branches every day – tens of thousands of metres of it.
“Our biggest problem at the moment is coil allocation because, despite it being a lifting market, we’re tied to what was ordered last year.
“The commercial projects are growing in both size and volume, but the coil allocation is not growing accordingly.”
Also flat-out at the onset of Q2 was Nigel Montgomery, Senior Product Manager at Marley.
Describing the rapid growth in product demand as “an ongoing challenge” is an understatement in the face of record consent figures.
“In the past five years,” he says, “residential consents will have increased 65% from 30,000 to over 50,000 by the end of this year.” However, he adds that “being a local manufacturer has been
highly advantageous” in this era of supply chain woes.
While Nigel insists innovations continue behind the scenes
at Marley: “Servicing what we’ve got has been our focus and has literally required all hands on deck, with office staff – Covid permitting – sometimes helping out in the warehouse to get deliveries out the door.”
28 NZHJ | APRIL 2022
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