Guardian Steel challenges roofing market dominance
The Government’s release of the new Building Product Specifications (BPS) document, which aims to open the market to thousands of additional building products and reduce construction costs, has been welcomed across the building sector, and one operator has already taken direct steps to tackle entrenched competition issues in the roofing industry.
In July, Roofbuddy – the roofing marketplace that connects homeowners with qualified roofers – launched its proprietary roll-forming steel business, Guardian Steel. The new business is designed to address the lack of competition, improve service delivery, and provide an end-to-end offering with full accountability and transparency for consumers.
For decades, roofers and their customers have dealt with a steel supply chain dominated by NZ Steel, the ASX-listed BlueScope subsidiary that has historically controlled more than 80% of the market. Guardian Steel is offering an alternative. Since its launch, the new business has quickly gained traction, delivering 48 roofs in its first two weeks.
While Guardian Steel is open to the market, its first customers have been Roofbuddy’s own network of 100 trade-qualified service providers. Each is a Licensed Building Practitioner with public liability insurance and active performance monitoring through Roofbuddy’s on-site 65-point quality assurance system.
The BPS document, which covers roofing and wall cladding systems, confirms that products are eligible when compliant with international standards set out in MBIE’s guidelines. Guardian Steel’s roofing steel meets those standards and the New Zealand Building Code. Its roll-forming machinery is manufactured locally by Rangiora-based Angus Robertson Mechanical, described as a global leader in roll-forming technology, while coil is produced in South Korea to New Zealand specifications.
Roofbuddy founder and chief executive James Logan says Guardian Steel was created to address a systemic problem common across many trades.
“For a long time there has been market frustration with delays and cost overruns and a need for real accountability and quality assurance, and most of all true competition, in the building materials market. Those conditions set the stage for direct supply to offer genuine consumer choice, and we established this for roofing steel not long before the Government introduced the new Building Product Specifications,” says Logan.
Guardian Steel also targets inefficiencies in the fragmented supply chain. Ordering is consolidated through a tech-enabled system embedded within the Roofbuddy platform. This provides more competitive pricing to contractors and greater security for customers through protected payment arrangements, with funds only released after quality checks have been passed.
The move builds on Roofbuddy’s established track record. Over the past three years, more than $80.7 million has been transacted through its platform, with 40,490 quotes served and 3,939 jobs booked. The company estimates customers have saved an average of $2,728 per job by comparing and selecting quotes through the marketplace – savings it expects Guardian Steel to extend further.
Logan says Guardian Steel’s emergence is timely.
“The introduction of the Building Product Specifications doesn’t just level the playing field for the likes of Guardian Steel – it signals a recognition among policymakers that we need to truly open our market to products that comply with our Building Code and all relevant standards. Guardian Steel brings global-standard quality and much fairer pricing to the local market while demonstrating how vertical integration creates transparency and better outcomes for homeowners and the whole industry. Everything from compliance to weather resistance, warranty, and durability is supported by decades of international proof – no more inflated costs, no more local monopoly on roofing products.”
He argues that for too long, New Zealanders have paid inflated prices for materials that are not always superior in quality.
“For years, Kiwis have been paying a premium for building products that in many cases are of lower quality than other options because of excellent marketing, anticompetitive behaviour, governance capture, and entrenched vested interests, and often for the benefit of offshore shareholders. It’s a shame that we let that happen for so long, but those days are now at an end. Power is being put back in the hands of consumers and tradespeople.”
The implications go well beyond roofing, Logan says. High material costs and restricted choice feed into wider affordability and public health challenges.
“Our ageing housing stock, of which half was built before 1980 and 35% pre-1960, is a critical public health issue, not just a property or construction challenge. It is a root cause of preventable illness, discomfort, and inequality, and it disproportionately affects Māori, Pacific peoples, and low-income renters, who are more likely to live in older, poorer-quality housing. Fixing this is a major social opportunity, and it starts with making it easier and more affordable to improve and repair older homes.”
Logan also points to international practice as an example.
“There are many imported building products that are better or more competitive than what is currently used in New Zealand. That’s part of the reason why the cost of construction is so high here compared with other markets around the world. Building new structures is cost-prohibitive, which is why half our housing stock is ancient relative to other developed countries – and we have the cold, damp, mouldy homes and public health effects to show for it. Elsewhere in the world, housing that is no longer fit for purpose is knocked down and rebuilt to modern standards and with competitively priced materials – like Guardian Steel.”