The Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) took to the virtual road in October with a series of four regional webinars aimed at helping members “find solutions in a Covid-19 world”.
Divided into four topics – protecting colleagues and your business; maintaining demand and material supply; maintaining technical support; and looking to the future – the webinars were a mix of discussions, presentations, Q&A sessions and informal on-screen polls to gauge opinion and, in some cases, to help plan a way forward.
For example, TRA director Nick Boulton described work carried out by the organisation in conjunction with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), which had resulted in guidance on construction site operation being published in late May.
An online poll revealed that 62% of the attendees were following the TRA Covid-safe operating information in the leaflet and that the manufacturing aspect of the business was proving to be the most difficult to protect. These results will be referred back to the TRA’s H&S and management committees to see if the information can be improved upon.
Another online poll gauged the percentage of the sector’s staff that could realistically work from home during the pandemic, finding that 44% of attendees said “greater than 50%”. Twenty-two per cent put the number at 10-50% while another 22% put it at less than 10%.
Consensus was that, for some, working from home was likely to be permanent and that the sector needed to adapt business models to accommodate that – by investing in laptops and software, for example.
Asked if the TRA should look at providing some guidance on risk assessments for home working, the answer was a resounding “yes”. In terms of the market, attendees agreed with the CLC’s assessment of supply chains, which was that construction had been very strong through the crisis, kicking in towards the end of May and continuing at pace. Companies had done “reasonably well and are trading at or near 2019 levels”.
“We’re all pleasantly surprised it’s bounced back as well as it has,” said Tim Wilson, regional director east at Crendon Timber Engineering, adding that the smaller builders had come back quicker than the big nationals.
“We are at 85-90% capacity, which is matching demand and is as much as can be done within Covid guidelines,” he said.
Metal web sales had also been good “from early on” said both Richard George, managing director at MiTek UK and Ireland, and Paul Flounders, customer support manager at Wolf Systems.
The economic indicators are good, said Mr Boulton, referring to the Construction Products Association’s (CPA) view that housing demand will remain “fairly strong”.
“Mortgage applications were up in August – although still down on August 2019,” said Mr Boulton. “Most indications are that the housing market will pick up in Q3 and there is a lot of talk about behavioural shifts – people needing more space for working at home due to Covid.”
He added a note of caution with regard to the government’s housing statistics, which were suspended in May but had resumed. “We are concerned whether they are accurate,” he said.
And, another blot on the landscape is the rising tide of unemployment, which could present a significant risk to maintaining current trading.
An online poll saw 44% citing unemployment as the main risk, 44% pointing at the shortage of materials, and 6% worried about the availability of mortgage finance. Representatives from Vida, Södra and Stora Enso gave their views of the material supply situation and all agreed that the supply chain had started the year in a strong position and with relatively high stocks, particularly structural timber.
Many contracts stopped abruptly in March, especially for structural timber, but nine million people on furlough had resulted in an unprecedented demand for fencing and DIY materials, a situation that was replicated across Europe.
“There was huge demand, particularly through the independent merchant chain,” said Mr Boulton. “Significant shortages became apparent in July with CLS and roof truss material waiting on delivery and pressure on suppliers to convert that for merchants. The UK as a whole usually has sufficient stock but by the end of June/ early July it was pretty empty of timber. Scandinavian mills are working at high levels but are still only just about able to keep up with demand.”
Global markets are also having a marked impact on supply, added Mr Boulton.
“The US housing market has increased and the US/Canada lumber dispute has slowed the supply of Canadian timber into the US, which, in turn, has led to an increase of Scandinavian timber into the US.
“The Belarus border is closed to Europe because of political instability and some of the smaller Scandinavian mills are concentrating on carcassing to fill that gap. “And Ireland’s supply is affected by an issue with felling licences.”
Richard Thick, managing director of Vida Wood UK added that the flow of wood into the US “is still enormous”. The fact that Vida’s parent company, Canfor, had shut four large mills in British Columbia had taken “an enormous volume out” of supply into the US, he said and this, coupled with the wildfires in California, Oregon and other parts of western US had “pushed the price of timber in the US into the stratosphere”.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years in the timber trade,” said Mr Thick. He added that the ban on log exports from Russia was putting pressure on Finland and that the spruce bark beetle crisis in Germany was reducing volumes of that country’s exports to the “very quality conscious” US.
The result for Vida is that while it may be able to produce more in January, all its current output is accounted for.
Mr Thick noted that while TR26 is traditionally more expensive than C24, that wasn’t the case at the moment – a view shared by Andrew McShane, national sales manager Södra.
“Not many European producers are interested in supplying TR26 because they can get a better return on other products,” said Mr McShane. “Mills are trying to play catch up to meet our forecasts but demand for TR26 and CLS is very high.
“British mills aren’t producing much structural timber as they are producing for fencing and pallets,” he said, adding that it will take the Christmas period to be able to build stock up again.
Ian Lawler, sales manager at Stora Enso echoed the comments from Vida and Södra. “Merchant groups have been trying to buy TR26 to replace their CLS supply, which has led to shortages in TR26,” said Mr Lawler. “There is very strong demand for everything and it is almost an allocation system.”
He added that merchants used to just-intime delivery were having to revert to the old system of planning ahead. Even then they had to face “the vagaries” of shipping.
“The global demand for timber has led to most mills being well sold to the year end and even going into Q1,” said Mr Lawler. “It seems unlikely there will be any correction in wood supply until at least the second half of 2021.”
As for advice, Mr Lawler said flexibility of specification was key, as was communication with suppliers and planning ahead.
“I think agreements will become shorter and shorter. We’re used to making agreements in quarters but I think it will become monthly and there will be clauses such as ‘subject to change’. My advice would be, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, talk about what is available with your suppliers – and think of the worst case scenario.”
The aforementioned rise in unemployment should not be a barrier to training and the TRA presented some of its recent initiatives, which had been devised with assistance from Liz Male Consulting (LMC).
These included a video promoting recruitment into the timber engineering sector, which focused on four main career paths – sales, estimating/design, manufacturing, and management.
The timing of the video’s launch will be decided following feedback from TRA members but Louise Stewart-Young of LMC pointed out that the benefits of releasing it now included capitalising on government incentives in place now that could help with employing apprentices; local level recruitment; and, with university seeming less attractive, capturing better candidates.
The TRA also presented its professional training scheme, which is based on a series of workbooks that can be assessed as an employee progresses. There are seven levels of training, with five workbooks per level (level seven is a dissertation).
Level 1 is being trialled before going live in February, with the subsequent levels coming in throughout 2021 and into 2022.
The roadshow webinar also presented outcomes from the TRA’s work on the issue of fire; on changes to horizontal deflection at supports; and on the Brexit changes directly affecting TRA members.
At the end of the transition period, December 31, 2020 UK-based Notified Bodies will no longer be able to oversee CE marking. All member companies using a UK Notified Body to oversee CE marking of trussed rafters and metal web joists will need to take some action before the end of the year.
UK Notified Bodies are in the process of writing to all their clients offering them two alternatives:
- Remain registered with your UK Notified Body, who will automatically become a UK Approved Body from January 1, 2021 and start applying the new UK CA mark; or
- Transfer to a partner European Notified Body and continue to apply the CE mark
With option b, products will only remain fully compliant with UK requirements up to December 31, 2021, at which point producers will need to implement UK CA marking with a UK Approved Body.
