A slowdown in new build made 2005 a tough year for the traditional truss rafter manufacturers.
And the consensus is that an ability to adapt is required for companies to succeed. The truss rafter market remains challenging and the general view is that “thinking outside the box” represents the best way forward.
Speaking at the recent Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) AGM, chairman Mike Beale, who is also managing director of Gang-Nail Systems Ltd, said: “The industry has declined by around 10% during the past 12 months, but the fact that has been more profound in the reduction of the number of truss rafters required is the serious increase in the number of apartments completed, which is getting perilously close to 50% of all newbuild.”
And, said Mr Beale, with government policy being in excess of 15 units to the acre, the situation is not going to improve in the short term. “All the hype of a million extra homes being needed over the next 10 years is, in my view, ‘pie in the sky’. I hope I am wrong.”
If there is one thing that niggles Mr Beale, it is the fact that non-members of his association benefit from the work of fully paid-up members.
At the AGM he said the organisation had been extremely active during 2005, but added: “One might say, sadly, on behalf of the whole fabricator network because that is the way some legislation works.
“To illustrate this point, under a new European standard on strength grading, TR26 would have been a thing of the past except for the efforts of the TRA who managed to persuade Europe that the UK and Ireland needed to retain this grade of timber for our industry. I am pleased to tell you we won this battle.”
Speaking before the AGM, Mr Beale said companies must diversify if they are going to stay afloat – and they must put money into their businesses.
<b>Need for investment</b>
“The main problem is companies do not invest and most of them are running on 25-year-old presses. We simply don’t put money into up-to-date kit – people invest in their saws but not in their machinery.
“Another thing is, they all know they need professional indemnity (PI) insurance. There are 160 truss fabricators on the UK mainland and about 70 of them belong to the UK TRA but the rest cannot because they don’t have PI insurance and the end user, that is the developer, is as much at fault.”
David Leaney of Wolf Systems has also noticed a slowdown in the housing market which has resulted in reduced truss sales for the majority of manufacturers.
“The market is also changing, with more affordable housing and fewer bigger detached properties being built. Government figures for the last 10 years show that while four-bedroom properties have dropped from 39% to 25%, flats have increased from 12% to 40% of the total properties built. This means the size of dwellings has reduced, giving rise to smaller roofs with fewer trusses.
“We see great opportunities for 2007 with projects like the Thames Gateway getting under way, building 120,000 affordable homes. These properties are to be built using modern methods of construction with as much off-site manufacture as possible.
“The government’s policy on housing density is forcing buildings to be built higher. This is leading to a continued increase in higher value attic roofs being used. Currently around 30% of UK housing uses room in the roof and this is expected to reach 45% by 2010.”
<b>Fresh approach</b>
Richard Jarvis, head of engineered wood products at Simpson Strong-Tie, said: “Lower volumes in the housebuilding market are still challenging, so we must take a fresh approach if we want to stay ahead and gain market share.
“We see our market growth in the truss rafter connector business coming from both our continuous development of innovative products and our commitment to pioneer the highest European Standards across the industry.”
And he went on: “The new health and safety regulations require the use of specialist handling equipment to manoeuvre trusses around, because of their size and weight. When joining multi-ply trusses together with traditional nails you have to apply the nails from both sides of the truss – but they are difficult to ‘flip’ over safely. Simpson has developed a high strength, self-drilling wood screw that only requires fixing from one side – solving this major problem for trussed rafter manufacturers.”
Other problem-solving products for the truss rafter market will be launched throughout this year.
SS-T also discovered that while there was plenty of design software training available to new designers, little practical training was offered. To combat this, it will hold a series of hanger training seminars this year covering correct design and installation of its products.
And last but not least, Simpson has committed £1m to have all its truss connectors CE marked by August 2007 to raise the benchmark in the industry.
Heywood Rooftruss Co Ltd is nearly a year old and managing director John Saxon said when it was launched he wondered what sort of market it would attract.
“Trade has been very buoyant since Christmas. Our clients are either small- or medium-sized companies and they seem to be very busy. If you are a larger player in the industry and a hungry animal chasing high sales figures you would be feeling the downturn, but we are small and compact and it doesn’t take a lot to keep us busy.”
Scotts of Thrapston is also experiencing a buoyant market. Chairman David Scott said: “Many small- to medium-sized housebuilders are continuing their newbuild programmes, particularly in the Midlands area.”
And, he said, engineered floor joists are a current hot topic within the housebuilding market.
<b>Changes</b>
Summing up the situation, Richard Thick of VIDA Wood said: “The truss market has started slowly, but most of the truss fabricators are hopeful of a busy year.
“The government predictions for future housing starts in the UK are encouraging. There have been changes in the build programmes in the last year, with more apartments being built on brownfield sites.
“There is also a move over to room in the roof construction to comply with new legislation governing the number of houses built per acre, both of the above have changed the roof industry away from the mass produced fink-type trusses to a more bespoke and specialised type of roof.
“There is also a growing market for the metal web floor beams which use TR26 for the top and bottom flanges.
“With more complicated designs from the roof truss industry, supplies of timber will have to be more specific in both dimension and lengths, and we are working hard to provide the exacting service required and will continue to develop and improve our deliveries to roof truss manufacturers.”
