N’siders impacted by shortages and increases of materials
At least one local contractor is changing the way she does business because of the rising costs of materials and delays in securing kitchen appliances.
Emmy May, a licensed, bonded contractor who specializes in home renovation, restoration and preservation, is reworking quotes she provided homeowners so they reflect a 35 percent bump due to the higher costs of materials.
She now stockpiles all the materials needed to complete a project before demolition begins in order to ensure everything is on hand to complete a job as quickly as possible.
“We’re ordering materials, appliances, fixtures, tile and flooring and storing it and then starting the project,” said May, a contractor for 26 years. “That’s what we’re having to do.”
Pat Nelson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Mississippi, said contractors began facing rising lumber prices about nine months ago.
“Starting last fall, the lumber industry went bonkers,” he said. “The price of a two-by-four stud that had cost $2.20 went to over $8. That’s for a single two-by-four.”
A sheet of Oriented Strand Board (OSB), made of wood chips and glue and used in roofing and also as exterior wall board, once sold for $8 a sheet and now costs $42 a sheet. “If it is preordered 60 days out, the quote is for over $60 for a single sheet,” Nelson said.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch is working with other state attorney generals to determine the reason for the uptick in price of lumber when timber owners are not receiving more money for trees that are harvested on their property, said Nelson, who participates in conference calls with Fitch about increased lumber costs.
“The Home Depots, the Lowes, the small-town lumber yards, their markup is no more than it was a year ago,” he said.
Major lumber mills in the U.S. and Canada are owned by just three corporations, and they contend part of the problem is they’re not being allowed to harvest timber that needs to be thinned on government-owned land, Nelson said.
“They’ve been allowed to thin it for decades in the U.S. and Canada and now they’re allowed to do that,” he said, noting that studs used in home building are made from fir that comes from areas where those corporations once thinned trees.
Lumber isn’t the only material to have increased in price.
Concrete has gone up in cost, and the price of sheetrock is inching up, he said. Roofing shingles are tough to secure and the price of is climbing, he said. The cost of 12/2 duplex wire has more than doubled since the first of February, Nelson said.
“It’s all affecting the price of new homes,” he said. “An 1,800-square-foot new house costs about $30,000 more than just last fall just due to lumber prices.”
Some contractors have slowed building spec homes, new, move-in ready homes, Nelson said. “We’ve got a number of slabs poured last fall still sitting,” he said.
Nelson advises anyone looking for a home to take advantage of the low mortgage rates that are available and make a purchase before building materials increase even more in costs, pushing home prices even higher.
“If someone is looking to get into a first home or build a retirement home or anything in between, if they find what they want with prices continuing to increase, it’s a good time to buy,” Nelson said.
“We’re hopeful and look forward to seeing the prices of building materials come down and level out. It’s affects our homebuilders, all who depend on homebuilding and consumers as well. Homebuilding is such a large of the gross national product.”
The senior officers of the National Association of Home Builders have met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo about supply chain constraints and the impact on home building, especially with respect to affordable housing, Nelson said.
Home building is important because it generates more than 20 percent of the gross national product. “As the home building industry flourishes so flourishes the nation’s economy,” Nelson said.
If there’s a silver lining to challenges contractors face, it’s the fact that business is booming and the cost of labor has not gone up, May said, naming the coronavirus pandemic that confined people to their homes as the reason why many homeowners want to make improvements.
“Everybody needs a facelift on their house,” she said. “Interest rates are good. I have a waiting list.”
Adding to difficulties contractors statewide face in securing materials is the fact that Mississippi is sandwiched between Louisiana and Alabama, which suffered devastation from hurricanes last year and face rebuilding, she said.
May recently finished a kitchen renovation for a couple in Belhaven, and during the course of that project, a sheet of birch used to build cabinets rose in price from $40 to $69 in a six-week period. The homeowners ordered new appliances in February and waiting on them to arrive.
Securing kitchen appliances takes longer than normal these days with the time required varying with each manufacturer and distributor, said Lindsey Davis, store manager at Cowboy’s Kitchen in Ridgeland.
“We used to be able to get appliances within two to four weeks and now it’s four to six months,” she said. “The days here are a lot busier and crazier with everyone doing the best way they can to take care of our customers.”
The longer lead times began with the pandemic, which led to fewer workers on factory floors in China, where many appliances are built, and then factory closures. A shortage of microchips, which are used in many wall ovens and ranges, and a shortage of insulation, which many appliances require, is another problem. Many people who received federal stimulus checks used them to purchase new washers and dryers, leading to a tight supply chain.
Cowboy Maloney’s is buying appliances in bulk as much as it can, she said.
“When the pandemic began, freezers were a hot commodity and we couldn’t keep them in,” Davis said.
Now, clothes washers are easier to come by than dryers, but supply varies according to brand and model, she said.
Contractors are asking their clients order the kitchen appliances they need earlier in the construction process, Davis said. “They’re helping customers manage their expectations so they’re not shocked when they come in,” she said.
Cowboy Maloney’s is charging consumers just one delivery fee, even if the appliances they order together arrive at different times and require several deliveries to their homes, Davis said.
Nelson knows about the appliance situation from firsthand experience. He has delayed moving into a home he recently purchased in Belhaven because it needs a new refrigerator, washer and dryer. “We went straight to Cowboy Maloney’s to get a refrigerator, washer and dryer and they said, ‘How long are you willing to wait?”’
May said she’s fortunate that her clients are eager to move forward on projects even when they learn the costs of some materials have skyrocketed. “So far people have been understanding and that’s good since we all went through so much in 2020,” she said.
Not all of her colleagues in the contracting industry are so fortunate, especially those who specialize in luxury homes, she said.
“I’ve had many discussions with friends and colleagues in the field and homebuilders, who do different projects in development, and they have shared with me that many of their clients have tabled their projects until they know what to expect,” she said.
