Posted December 25, 2020
Building on a challenging year
Despite 2020 being a challenging year for everyone between COVID-19 and a looming recession, MAXRaft saw an increase in business toward the end of the year. With a focus on local business and development, many people have turned their sights to MAXRaft in order to build back better and stronger. Like most businesses, it was a quiet time from March until August due to the uncertainty in the marketplace. While other businesses turned to hibernation, we put this time to good use by improving our systems and processes, as well as looking at ways to better serve our customers and the building community.
People want more energy-efficient homes
It’s become apparent in recent years that people are interested in building better overall, not just their foundation, although it’s a great place to start. The most common terms used from new home builders were “passive house design” and “energy-efficient building.” For us, this has resulted in a large uptick in quotes and signing on a lot more work, with many new jobs in the pipeline. We’re seeing strong growth and this last quarter has set new records for MAXRaft.
Setting the foundation for a big year ahead
We’re looking forward to 2021 as we’ll be bringing lots of new stuff your way. Early in the year, we are launching our brand new website to give you more online tools, as well as rolling out some new products and initiatives such as reducing the cost of our complete MAXRaft® package. We’ve taken steps to evaluate how we can make MAXRaft more affordable for all of our projects. This will be especially helpful for large volume projects such as social housing, schools, the medical fraternity, aged care and more.
MAXRaft on building sites nationwide
We are continuing to expand our network of installers and contractors nationwide. However, presently, there are 2-3 places in New Zealand where we don’t offer a fully installed service. This includes people building properties in Gisborne, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay. We can supply materials to those areas, but just not the complete supply and install service. But fear not because we're working on offering all services in those regions soon. The rest of the country is covered now and includes our full install package.
Systems, processes and lead times
Despite our increased workload, we’ve been working on our processes and are pleased to say that our 3-weeks lead time remains the same. This means 3-weeks from a customer calling us to place an order, MAXRaft will be installed on their site. Lacking capacity is always a concern for businesses experiencing rapid growth, however, we’re confident maintaining this lead time moving forward.
At present, our projects are split across full installation (70%) and supply product only (30%). Over the past two-years, this split has flipped. Our installed offering continues to grow because it simply makes the builder's lives easier.
Tailoring your MAXRaft solution
We have also learned to tailor our supply offering so that it suits the likes of foundation contractors who generally only want a supply of our polystyrene components or builders who want materials and to handle the labour themselves. Having the right service makes a huge difference to a project’s outcome.
New MAXRaft products coming in 2021
We are releasing some new products in 2021. We are always striving to make MAXRaft easier to specify and make our systems more cost-effective. Watch this space!
Merry Christmas!
We’re closing the office on 23 December and are back onboard 11 January 2021. If you desperately need to reach us, we will be contactable on 0800 006 029.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. See you in 2021!
