At Parkwood Master Builder, authenticity is at the forefront of improving the way people live. We all know the homebuilding industry has been facing some challenges, and with transparency in mind, we wanted to talk about the ripple effect that global material shortages have on your homebuilding experience and what it means for your new home!

Building Material Shortages: High Demand, Low Supply

First thing’s first, why are home builders across North America dealing with construction material shortages? Well, when the pandemic started in early 2020, no one knew how it would affect the housing market, so we braced ourselves for the worst–a halt in home sales–but the opposite happened and the market experienced a boom. 

Many people decided to put their savings into their homes, whether they were renovating their space or building a new home from scratch, because what else is one to do when everything is shut down? Naturally, though, this massive uptick in new home builds has caused a major disruption to the construction supply chain. A persistently high demand quickly resulted in an extremely limited supply (like lumber, for example). This sudden jump in demand makes for skyrocketing prices and extended timelines that us home builders are doing our best to mitigate on behalf of our customers. 

We have all been affected by the ever-evolving supply chain issues, but here at Parkwood, we are committed to improving the way people live even when dealing with unexpected challenges.  

What Material Shortages and Building Prices Mean for Your Home 

The main material shortages that are currently causing extended build-out times for new homes include:

  • Lumber 
    • Think wooden joists and beams that we use to frame your home, or that new deck you’ve been dreaming about; the pandemic-induced increase in new builds/renovations coupled with crazy storms in the US affecting resin production have made it impossible for manufacturers to keep up with demand.  
  • Plumbing pipes, electrical wiring, fixtures, and bathroom products
    • From the actual plumbing + electrical mechanisms to aesthetic faucets, fiberglass showers, toilets and tubs; material shortages and manufacturing speeds are affecting production amid such high demand. 
  • Appliances 
    • No kitchen can be complete without appliances, which is why there has been a massive supply shortage due to the high number of new homes being built plus homeowners wishing to upgrade after staying home and staring at their old fridge for a year. Other factors that contribute to this shortage include a complete halt of steel production in Asia for two months last spring as well as staffing capacities being reduced due to COVID-19 safety regulations.
  • Roofing materials
    • In order to put a roof over our customers’ heads, we need the right materials, which have been taking longer and longer to land in our hands. These delays are due to a very limited supply since many vendors have been discontinuing less popular products to accommodate their top-performing products in the meantime. It’s also worth mentioning that debilitating storms in Texas drastically impacted production for roofing products across North America. 

These construction material shortages have forced us to extend build-out times for many of our homes, but what matters most is making sure we can get you into your dream home as close to your intended possession date as possible without sacrificing the quality of your build. 

The New Normal… For Now

While the construction supply chain works hard to catch up with the world after one wild year, we appreciate our customers for their support, patience, and understanding as we do everything we can to keep your new home on track to possession day and beyond. 

If you’d like more context with regards to the global building material shortages, here are a few reads that helped inform this post:

Presenting the Pearce Showhome
How to Beat the Heat in Your Home