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15/11/21
21:47
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Originally posted by Storm_chasor:
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I used to think brick manufacturers are the best natural fit for WaaS JVs, i.e. Wienerberger, Brickworks, one makes bricks one lays them, nice for brick suppliers to have an extended business arm into service side. But now I changed my view and believe FBR's best JV interest would be coming from big building companies, HX doesn't mean the do or die for brick manufacturers, but HX may very well be the make or break for many builders soon as the technology is maturing and eventually disrupting the building industry, if a builder is disadvantaged for not being able to use HX, it's to the capable builders' desire to be able to not only access to the HX building method, but more importantly be able to get foot into the new JV business with FBR and dominating on the changing market. Regardless who uses HX for building, brick always sells, the disruption kicks into the service end first not the supply end, in another words, whichever way HX scales up, brick manufacturers always win. But at service end, how HX establishes its first presence in various markets, and with whom, means a great deal to many building companies of each region than brick manufacturers.
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Originally posted by GaryJitters:
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The double edged sword is that if building companies partner they would likely keep an area in which there franchise contract dictates them as the sole owners of the service for that area. That may mean less houses being built limited to one builder and less bricks through the hx. What is interesting is that current MOU's, term sheet, global partnership are all made up with different style companies. I think we will initially see an array of varying contracts come into play with companies of different business models to get this off the ground.
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Originally posted by ash007:
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I think in "normal" pre-pandemic times. Yes, that would be the case. There is still an argument why brick manufacturer still would have a vested interest in HX/FBR. Look at manufacturing/car manufacturing. Almost all cars, especially european cars has its own sets of tools/processes. Because they all believe their way of doing things are what suits them to make cars. Bricks are "generic" in some sense. But I believe Brick manufacturer wants to maintain a healthy building market, and that means bricklayers needs to be there. With population declining, or lesser bricklayers around, this means there would be lesser people to lay bricks for them. Also, despite maintenance cost, a machine can lay a lot more bricks at a faster rate then a human can. Just saying, brick manufacturer would have a vested interest in enabling something like the HX. As for builders/developers, we know how much margins they want to make.
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Originally posted by Armsofanangel:
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The reason I keep coming back to Brickworks is that they have been on board as an original and largest angel investor since 2005 ... so they know the story well Add to this they own Bristile Roofing as a supplier of clay roof tiles where you can't buy roof tiles ubless you buy the laying of the tiles by Bristile roof layers ... Remove manual layers and replace with a robot and you have Roof As A Service ... RAAS ... similar to WAAS and Bristile Roofing is the JV entity the idea of a builder in Perth becoming a JV partner can work AKA ABN Roofing where all colorbond roofs are supplied and layed ... but as far as I'm aware ... only to builders under the ABN banner. The problem you get is let's say BGC were the JV partner ... if you have more work than machines available will they prioritise BGC building companies over say ABN Group building companies? In a heart beat they would... so where is the incentive for say Dale Alcock Homes changing their business model to suit the HX when potentially they may be able to get a team of bricklayers to site faster than a HX It could even be a Coal mining company looking for a change of focus ... greener pastures ie less waste, timber, beef eating tradies ... less carbon footprint to invest into a JV and build enough HX machines to service all of Australia
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Some good points of view. The common theme we all seem to agree on is that whoever is engaged to push WaaS, would be entrusted to do exactly that, push WaaS on an ongoing basis for the enduring benefit of not only the JV partner but also FBR. This is the main reason why I didn't like the Caterpillar model as they would solely be reactive to market demand rather than develop and push the market. The only other thing I could add Storm Chaser, that you didn't seem canvas is the Brick Manufacturer's concern of losing market share to alternative building methods or products. These organisations have no doubt spend hundreds of millions or possible billions on making brick manufacturing as efficient as possible. The last thing they would want is for their buyers (builders) to look at alternatives because the cost of building a brick home becomes costly, drags out etc etc. NGNG