In the past year, there’s been nearly a 400% increase in lumber prices across the country, making both home builders and renovators nervous about the future of their projects. But softwood, plywood, and hardwood aren’t the only building materials that have seen demand outpace supply.
Here are the other building materials whose rising costs might affect your commercial construction projects this summer.
Hardwood, Softwood, and Plywood
Lumber production had to ramp down during the quarantine due to work reduction and shutdowns during the 15+ months of the Safer at Home order. But now that the vaccines are going out, the demand for projects to resume or new projects to begin is overwhelming lumber producers who are just now beginning to re-start their production. This is true for our folks in the Wimberley valley, and also across Texas and the rest of the country.
As of now, industry experts expect the prices of lumber to rise through the Fall.
Iron and Steel
There are a lot of numbers out there regarding the increase in iron and steel in the US. According to some reports, the price of steel and iron has been rising since August 2020 with it’s biggest jump in price, 75%+ in February/March of 2021.
The demand is only increasing as mills start to resume their work, causing an increase in pricing as supply struggles to keep up with demand.
Hardware
From nuts and bolts to screws and washers, there has been a 31.4% increase in the costs of hardware since November 2019 which makes sense given the increase in iron and steel costs.
Cut stone
Cut stone and other stone products have also seen an increase in cost, by a little over 6% since November 2019 pushing into this year.
Millwork
From kitchen cabinets to molding and wall paneling, millwork product prices have actually been on the rise since 2019.
Plumbing Fixtures & Fittings
On the rise since November 2020, fittings, pipes, faucets, and more cost just a bit more now than it did this time last year.
Paint
While paind has only raised about 2% in the past 8 months, if you’re looking to budget your project as a whole, a 2% increase can mean more to your overall project.
Why Is Everything More Expensive & When Will It End?
The pandemic kept many people indoors with more time on their hands than ever before. Once stuck in their homes, people started to notice cracks or general issues and began to dream up bigger and better projects like renovations and additions to their homes.
This sent people to the home improvement store where they bought up wood, hardware, tools, paint, etc. in order to get their projects done. Meanwhile, commercial projects paused or stopped all together as did the work in mills across the country and the world. Once the vaccines started rolling out and professional, commercial construction projects began again, mills, also re-opening, are struggling to keep up with the demand for supplies.
The good news? This looks to be a declining trend which will start to even out in the Fall. The challenge? Projects already in motion have had fluctuating costs. This is just one of many reasons to have a close and active relationship with your construction contractor.
For your commercial construction projects, transparency and communication is always the best option. If you have had a project in mind, now is likely the time to start planning. As material prices start to even out, folks in all sectors are getting back to work. Having worked through over 30 years of construction history in the Texas Hillcountry, we know how to manage the markets, find the right help to complete your project, and make sure communication is open and honest throughout the process.