Wayne Carter Homes construction company owner Wayne Carter said in the past he would receive an order for timber frames and trusses in two weeks, but now a three-month wait is standard.

"Our timing of building homes has changed, it's blown out, and that's not because it's how we want it, it's just the reality of lack of supply of timber products," he said.

Mr Carter said he wouldn't be surprised if those making steel frames and trusses begin growing their market share and construction companies branch out with the materials they use.

As well as being more expensive than timber and requiring a different skill set for builders, Softwoods Working Group chairman Peter Crowe said these materials require a much higher energy consumption on their way to becoming finished goods.

Even though about 47,000 hectares of softwood plantation has been decimated in the Snowy Valleys, Mr Crowe firmly believes it is not "all doom and gloom" for the timber industry moving forward.

Joint state and Commonwealth funding for local timber mills provided a much-needed cushion for local workers, however he argues that a robust plan of action for the short-term is needed as plantations regrow in coming decades.

Mr Crowe said that in the short term, local timber mills have used the government funding to upgrade and retool to extract as much framing timber from the available logs as possible, "utilising smaller trees and utilising lower grade logs and increasing the productivity from the existing resource".

He said this boost was vital in keeping the mills operational once the post-bushfire salvage operation involving burnt trees wound down, and would like to see more work done to "increase productivity from the forests that currently exist".

Mr Crowe, who began working in the industry in Batlow during the late 1950s, said one of the biggest threats to forest productivity is weeds, particularly blackberries.

"For forestry plantation production we need to be better at controlling weeds, which are competing for water and nutrients with the trees that we want to turn into houses," he said.

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Mr Crowe said this is particularly important as the next generation of trees and forests begin growing off the back of a record replanting program last winter, which will mature in around 30 year's time to be harvested.

Mr Crowe said the Snowy Valleys' mills won't reach full production until those 30 years are up, but demand for timber products is only increasing.

He said the recent bushfires were the "tip of the iceberg" for those in the construction industry who were already reporting a wood shortage.

Mr Carter said his company isn't heavily reliant on locally-sourced timber, but there are some businesses in Wagga that would "really [be] in strife" after the fires.

"The demand on new homes at the moment is certainly giving us no wriggle room," he said.

Mr Carter also said it was better that there's demand there, and the industry itself, which employs a lot of people, was busy and "we're not doing nothing".

Mr Crowe is calling on the both levels of government to decide on a clear plan to address timber shortage issues going forward.

He said a basic plan is needed to figure out how much land is suitable for plantations, how much it will cost to acquire land and establish new plantations, and who is going to do it.

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