“I was a qualified builder in Canterbury for 20 years, heavily cemented in the construction sector, but I got frustrated with not being able to compete with the big guys,” says Carl Taylor, CEO of Combined Building Supplies Co-Operative (CBS Co-Op).
Carl had made a name for himself in hillside builds around Christchurch, but found that he was losing tenders because he couldn’t access the Tier/Group 1 rates suppliers offered his larger competitors. “I lost a job for a couple hundred thousand back in 2017 and approached my merchant to ask for a better discount. They laughed that off and said I didn’t spend enough to get the same rate as the guy who won the job. That’s when I realised that I needed to get other builders together to increase our collective buying power.”
He then made a chance post on social media, and others in his network quickly rallied around the idea of forming a co-operative. “I didn’t even really know what a co-op was at that time,” he admits. “But I knew we needed a way to empower small- and medium-sized builders and trade businesses to leverage collective purchasing power for better pricing on materials and services.”
The co-operative was founded when Carl joined forces with four like-minded professionals from the building and co-operative sectors, and,they got to work finding their first 30 members. “In the beginning, people thought it would never work - there was no one doing anything like this in New Zealand. But after our launch evening was picked up by 1 News, we suddenly had 100 members, and we thought that maybe we were on to something.
“Our combined purchasing power is now about $70m per year. This enables our members to level the playing field and get the same prices as the large guys through our supplier partners, including Bunnings, Placemakers, and Plumbing World, who make up the bulk of our spend. We targeted builders initially, but now we have members who are designers, engineers, sparkies, dairy farmers, and people across all segments throughout New Zealand and in Australia. What we’ve found with architects and designers, in particular, is that many of them are also property investors and, often, they build their own homes as well. So we can be a great option for them to make those things more affordable.”
The simplicity around membership is a big draw, Carl says, with just a one-time fee required in order to join the co-op. “A shareholder member pays $1,000 to join. That buys 1,000 shares for life, with no other ongoing fees or subscription costs. It’s hard to put an exact dollar figure on the savings that joining fee will get you, but if you bought one garage door through one of our suppliers, you’d get your investment back on that purchase alone.”
Over the years since CBS was created, the co-operative has also become a voice for small businesses and coal-face workers, Carl says. “When we set out, it was just about buying power, but we’re advocates now as well. We have good support from the media and we’re pretty vocal about challenges facing the industry. This has enabled us to become heavily involved with issues like the Commerce Comission’s investigation into the price of building materials back in 2021. The Government responded to some of the things we put forward, which opened up the doors to bring in building materials from other parts of the world, so long as they meet the NZ Building Code. This is a big move in the right direction, removing complication and cost from getting international products appraised.”
CBS Co-Op now has about 2,000 members, and they’re still growing. “Our goal is to be the largest building material purchaser in New Zealand, and we’re fast becoming that,” Carl says. “We have virtual teams across the country who work hard to support our shareholders to build better, more profitable businesses. We’re investing heavily in education, and we’re currently launching a new partnership with the Association of Professional Builders to support that. We’re also excited to partner with Teulo and explore CPD opportunities for people who want to gain that knowledge from the comfort of home. We’re always looking at ways to support our members and help them be more successful - every one of them is welcome to call me personally for advice, and they do.
“Our offering is simple, and the deals we can give shareholders are so good that the co-op basically sells itself. For the level of discount you can achieve with CBS, it’s an absolute no-brainer for anyone in the business of buying building materials to make a small investment and join us.”
To learn more and join Combined Building Supplies Co-Operative, visit https://cbscoop.co.nz/ and follow Carl on LinkedIn.
