Price & Pierce has seen some major changes in its 150-year history, not least of which is that, today, its original role as a traditional agency accounts for less than 25% of its day-to-day business and it is now fully tooled up as a stockist and distributor of timber and panel products.
The company operates from sales offices in the north (Hull) and south (Woking) of England and imports through Poole, Hull and Tilbury. Products include structural timber, CLS, roof battens, PSE, joinery timber, decking, sleepers and OSB. It also imports a wide range of value added panel products, including the Selex plywood brand from CMPC in Chile, with which it has had a 27-year relationship and chipboard from Unilin in Belgium.
Earlier this year it started yet another new chapter when it was acquired by International Forest Products (IFP) – the US’s fifth largest exporter (TTJ April, 2019).
“We are now able to bring to the table a global network of different mills and manufacturers and new products that will be exclusive to us,” said Gary Beale, Price & Pierce sales manager. “For example, in the not too distant future we’ll be bringing in IFP-branded structural softwood plywood, which we don’t currently offer. We’ll also be importing OSB.”
These new products will be welcomed by the modular offsite construction sector, which Price & Pierce sees as a real growth area.
“We understand that this year alone there are an estimated 15,000 units being manufactured offsite and this is forecast to double next year. The government has a target of 300,000 newbuild units by 2020 and, as we see it, it is going to need modular offsite units to help them reach that figure.
“We have been developing relationships with the companies that are involved with modular offsite construction and this has ramped up in the last year.”
Mr Beale thinks this modular offsite focus will be nationwide, citing national developers who are opening new factories.
The company has also plugged in to the demand for products that improve energy efficiency and, increasingly, for those that mitigate the risk of fire.
For example, it stocks Unilin’s internal and external FR boards, Antivlam and Hydroflam. Fires in both types of board extinguish by themselves and the boards don’t continue to glow after the heat source is removed.
And on the thermal efficiency side, it stocks Unilin’s Durelis VapourBlock. This chipboard product has a vapour barrier and an airtight barrier built in and is 99% airtight.
There has been increasing interest in these products but there is always more to be done in terms of educating both specifiers and builders. Price & Pierce does its bit here, too – it recently attended Specify in London and will be at the same show in Sheffield in September.
“It attracts around 300 people from different types of business, including architects who come to see new products and get new ideas. It’s a good opportunity to network,” said Mr Beale.
“As well as airtightness and fire resistance, a key focus for visitors was sustainability,” he continued, adding that, since Unilin’s chipboard is made from 85% pre-consumed material and 15% from customers’ by-products, the product has attractive environmental credentials.
“As technology improves we are building differently – more economically and in a more environmentally friendly way. However, when products are being specified we have to make sure they are actually being used – and in the right places.”
Brexit still has to be negotiated, let alone navigated but Price & Pierce is optimistic this is just “a moment in time”.
The question is, will the demand be there? Mr Beale believes that, whatever the outcome, the government’s homebuilding target will still underpin construction.
“I also believe the timber trade is doing its best to make sure it deals with any situation that arises,” he continued. “And this year we celebrated our 150th anniversary – so we’re not going anywhere, Brexit or no Brexit.”
