Compact packing keeps freight costs down, writes Ray Smuts
UNLIKE THOSE would-be travellers bemoaning the continuing downward spiral of the rand, the currency's plunge is good news for exporters as wood product exporter Gareth Tanner well realises.
Recently appointed managing director of R&B Log Homes in Knysna, Tanner estimates that at least 60% of his company's turnover is derived from the export of log homes and hotels in kit form.
A prime example of the R&B product is to be found in southern New Zealand in the form of a 60-room hotel built entirely from Knysna forest pine and erected in six months flat.
"We have several other projects under investigation in New Zealand and other parts of the UK and Spain and have already exported to Malaysia, Reunion, Seychelles and Mozambique," says Tanner.
He estimates that in the USA and UK his company can come in at 35% below the price of local suppliers including Scandinavian builders operating in the UK market.
"A big advantage of our systems is that they pack compactly into containers. This means that freight costs are seldom more than 15% of the total price, no matter what the destination.
In order to effectively handle the growing number of enquiries for the product, R&B has appointed agents in Cape Town, Durban, New Zealand, the West Indies and Spain.
The company currently sells in 15 countries and hopes to branch into the US and Canadian markets in the year ahead.
There has long been, to Tanner's mind, the misconception that building with wood translates to building cheap - a conception he is out to change.
While declining to be drawn on actual costs of the various structures available, Tanner says: "We don't build cheap," then concedes that a two bedroom log home would probably cost around R200 000, but the actual
figure depends on the client's exact needs.
"The luxury homes
market in South Africa is very competitive at the moment and local turnover therefore less spectacular than overseas."
