66 | TIMBER Eastown Buildlink T T Russell Fredric Working in tandem A significant portion of production is exported, particularly to Australia and the Pacific. Eastown Buildlink PROUD TO SUPPORT PH 06 344 7503 4 3 184 Glasgow St Wanganui www.walkerthomas.co.nz All Wooden Poles, Posts and End Assemblies required for Kiwifruit development and Maintenance Landscaping | Building | Fencing | Pole Sheds 0800 224 759 | sales@bbi.net.nz | www.bbi.net.nz Proudly supporting Eastown Buildlink Plywood Timber Many locals know Eastown Buildlink as a timber and fencing supplier, but behind the retail yard is sister company Eastown Timber Processors, a timber-processing and export operation supplying customers across New Zealand and overseas. Director James Richardson says Eastown Timber Processors, which handles custom timber processing, treatment, machining, and export production from the same site. “We’ve got good synergies between the two businesses. We can do processing and treatment for the retail side and the processing business focuses on production and export,” James says. The site includes treatment plants, kilns, planers and coating lines, allowing the company to produce a wide range of processed timber products, including weatherboards, structural timber, and specialist products. “Our ideal model is where customers send us rough-sawn timber and we send back the finished product, whether that’s treated, machined or coated boards ready for use.” A significant portion of production is exported, particularly to Australia and the Pacific, which helps balance fluctuations in the New Zealand building market. “We export about 80 percent of what we produce, so that does insulate us a bit from the New Zealand economy,” says James. “We would prefer to be selling more domestically, but the domestic market has been quite slow, so export markets are important for us.” One of the most significant events in the company’s history came in March 2022, when a major fire destroyed a large portion of the site, forcing the business to rebuild much of its operation. “Half the buildings were destroyed in the fire, so we had to completely rebuild. It was a huge undertaking and it took about two and a half years before everything was fully replaced and up and running again. “For a while the staff room was a marquee and we just worked with what we had left and kept going.” Support from others in the timber industry helped the business continue operating during that period. “Timber is a big industry, but it’s also quite a small industry, and everyone knows each other. Some competitors actually sent us equipment we needed to keep operating, which was pretty awesome.” Rebuilding after the fire, along with expanding its timber processing capability, has positioned Eastown Timber Processors as a key player in Whanganui’s timber industry. The company manufactures and supplies a wide range of timber products, including treated posts and poles, weatherboards, structural timber, and machined profiles. It also produces Permacrib retaining wall systems and timber water tank components, while the Buildlink retail yard supplies fencing posts and rails, palings, decking timber, sleepers, plywood, fasteners and general building supplies to trade, rural and DIY customers. Eastown employs around 20 staff, and James says the business has a strong, stable workforce. “We’ve got a lot of long-term staff here, guys that have been here more than 20 or even 30 years.
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