Page 24 - Green Builder Nov-Dec 2021 Issue

PART 2

Alternative For the construction sector, the past year can be summed up with
two modified statements: If you don’t have it, you can’t build it.
If you don’t build it, they won’t come. Thanks to the pandemic,
builders have seen a lot of the former en route to the latter: Higher
Systems prices, materials shortages and workforce problems have the
industry searching for other ways to get the job done.
The effort has given insulated concrete forms (ICFs), struc-
Rising tural insulated panels (SIPs) and other energy-efficient struc-
tural systems a tremendous boost. But not every material shift
moves the needle toward greater sustainability. Replacing wood
with steel framing, for example, infers the need for additional,
Shortages of lumber and other CO2-intensive insulation or other methods to achieve a thermal
break, to compensate for steel’s extremely high thermal transfer
construction materials offer a characteristics. It’s not just an easy swap.
It’s a complicated situation, one that’s going to be a headache
golden opportunity for other ways for a while longer. Data indicates that some construction sup-
to build a home. plies will remain tight until at least next summer. Meanwhile,
all anyone can do is plan carefully.

THE CONSTRUCTION SECTOR: CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME
Going into 2020, experts presented a familiar slate of prob-
lems facing builders. These included lumber costs, which were
expected to rise (again); materials that were harder to find; and a
workforce that would continue to shrink. More than 80 percent of
Limited LACK OF SKILLED LABOR builders surveyed by COGNITION Smart Data cited these chal-
LABOR SHORTAGES/
lenges as being the items they have been and will be struggling
with while doing business.
options. 33% ducted last May, 90 percent of respondents reported shortages
In a survey by the National Association of Home Builders con-
of appliances, framing lumber oriented strand board (OSB), and
Labor and construction plywood. Eighty-seven percent also cited shortages of doors and
materials are the biggest windows; 50 percent reported shortages of steel beams, insula-
obstacles faced by builders tion, roofing materials, vinyl siding, copper wiring, and plumbing
as they try to go about their fixtures, among other materials.
daily business. Deepa Raghavan, a housing market analyst for Wells Fargo
& Company, doesn’t find the numbers surprising. But they are
SOURCE: COGNITION SMART DATA
frustrating. “It used to be like Whac-A-Mole, where you would
whack one thing and another one would pop up,” Raghavan said
in a report from the Wall Street Journal. “This is like six of them
UNRELIABLE coming out and you can only whack two at a time.”
ACCESS TO BUILDABLE LOTS CONTRACTORS
3% 16% Builders have been forced to seek new suppliers or alternative
products, sometimes with mixed results. Delivery times
HIGH INSURANCE COSTS have been delayed, with many builders being forced to place
3% orders without concrete dates or prices. These delays disrupt
construction schedules, which costs builders time and money,
HIGH MATERIAL COSTS
STRINGENT CODES 12% leading to increased costs for consumers. That, in turn, has priced
5% 2.1 million U.S. consumers out of home ownership.
Straub Construction in Shawnee, Kansas, changed insulation
OTHER materials when its usual supplier couldn’t fill the order. The
ACCESS TO CAPITOL
6% 12% switch added $20,000 to the project’s cost, but it was better than
delaying things by six to nine months before the original product
arrived. “It’s unprecedented,” company president Parker Young
RISING CONSTRUCTION/ said in a report from the Wall Street Journal. “I’ve been in the
LABOR COSTS business for 30 years and never seen anything like this.”
9% Nor has Greg Sizemore, vice president of workforce development

22 GREEN BUILDER November/December 2021 www.greenbuildermedia.com