The Canadian Home Builders Association says it is more than just the price of lumber that is driving up construction costs.
Central Interior President Jere Lorenz says lumber related materials like cabinets and doors are going up, but that’s just a small portion of it.
“Everything else has gone up also. We’re talking flooring, paint, appliances, roofing materials, even concrete now because of gas prices going up. They have added an increased per load charge. So every time we turn around, every week, there is a new charge, a new increase on another material.”
Lorenz says you don’t have to have a large home to have huge increases. “You can have anything from a townhouse that’s going to be costing you about $70,000 more and the average house will be closer to $100,000 more. If you have a large house, you’re way above that.”
One issue on top of the cost to build are delays in getting supplies. “And then the lead time on some of these items are huge. You’re at anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks for cabinets. So basically you’re three months out. You’ve got to order your cabinets basically when you’re putting the foundation in to have your cabinets ready for installation. You have to have your flooring ordered sitting waiting. Of course the warehouses don’t want to be sitting there with all this product. Your scheduling has to be pretty accurate.”
Lorenz says all the builders are very busy right now and things have not slowed much if at all throughout the pandemic. “In the beginning it was slower in the first few months of the pandemic, but after about May/June last year things have picked up and everybody has been really busy. But we’ve had our challenges, no question about it.”
There are also issues when it comes to labour. “Basically it starts with the forming and framing contractors. They’re trying to keep everybody happy for the amount of work that’s out there and they’re running skeleton crews everywhere. The drywallers, same thing as tapers and boarders. When you’re in a unit running skeleton crews trying to keep everybody happy. Painters are no different. They’re stretched to the limit. They can’t hire people. They’re looking to hire people. Siding installers. It just goes on. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, it’s the same issues with all sub-trades and they’re having a hard time trying to find qualified workers or even just bodies to fill a position.”
Lorenz says there are two positives to note. “Lumber for the first time has hit under $1,000 per 1,000 [board feet], but that won’t be seen for two or three months.” The other positive is that building permit timelines are coming down. “We were at eight or nine weeks and now we’re down to six weeks for residential and eight weeks for commercial permits…. I think we will see the prices start to level off. They have to, they can’t keep going up cause I think you’ll see a stall in the market then.”
