Economic impact. For the past nine months, we’ve seen a scarcity of construction labor, frequent and longer waits to get subcontractors to our jobs and a steady, rapid increase in prices. Well, guess what? The horse is out of the barn and it’s not going to get any better. We’ve had two hurricanes with devastating impact in three states in the US, as well as Puerto Rico and countless Caribbean Islands. It couldn’t get any worse. For those of you sitting on the fence, waiting and wanting to make a new construction home purchase, the time has come; you’ve got to get going.
Bottom line. There is not enough plywood, framing lumber, sheetrock, shingles and labor for all these repairs, much less spec building for new construction homes. Most builders were notified of price increases of five to six dollars a sheet for all sheet goods, minimum. We’re told framing lumber will be next. Truss manufacturers are two to three weeks behind schedule because of the hurricanes and their lumber costs are going up too. Sub-contractors, already dealing with a scarcity of good laborers, are now out of the frying pan and into the fire. Some of their employees will go to areas of higher labor wages caused by labor shortages in hurricane impacted areas. In the U.S., homeowners affected by hurricane damage are going to pay whatever they have to get the repairs done, they have no choice.
Take action. So, if you’re a new homebuyer what can you expect from a builder?
- Very little in buyer concessions or incentives. Due to these economic conditions and the low supply of new homes on the market they don’t have to and they’re scared to death about materials and labor cost increases. Most of them couldn’t keep up with their current sales and now this.
- Price increases. There will be more, they will be steady and they will continue.
Now is the time to take action before price increases push the dreams of building your new home out of reach.
