Investment in home construction up on the Island
P.E.I. led the country with a 31.6-per-cent investment increase in residential construction
Todd MacEwen, executive officer of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association Prince Edward Island, says the housing boom this year in Charlottetown and across P.E.I. is great for builders, but keeping up with demand can pose some challenges.
“So, a lot of contractors and builders are going to be maxed out, which is a great thing. They can always take on more work. But, that would mean more labourers – getting those numbers up is going to be a bit of a challenge both attracting new people to the industry as well as retaining the ones who are here,” said MacEwen.
“Business is booming. There is always the opportunity for more business, it’s just the matter of making sure there is a workforce out there who can do it.”
A recent Statistics Canada report shows that P.E.I. led the country with a 31.6-per-cent increase of residential construction investment from the second quarter of 2016 to the second quarter of this year. Second on the list is Manitoba with an 18.6-per-cent increase over that same time period.
Overall, the investment in residential construction on the Island increased from $70.6 million to $92.9 million.
Single-family homes led the way with an investment increase from $12.2 million in 2016 to $29.2 million this spring. Investment in apartment construction declined from $4.8 million in 2016 to $2.9 million.
The investment numbers are likely the result of newcomers in the Charlottetown-CornwallStratford area in particular that have the means to buy a new home and prefer not to rent, said MacEwen.
He added that one way builders are dealing with the increased demand is to plan construction a year in advance. So, a builder may agree to a project this spring but only break ground in the spring of 2018.
Warren Doiron, president New Homes Plus, also said that the increase in demand for builders is a good problem to have, but his company only takes on the number of jobs it can handle.
“We don’t overextend ourselves,” he said. “I’m not that greedy that I have to go out there and try to get it all.”
Darren MacKenzie, owner of MacKenzie Builder Services Ltd. in Souris, said he overbooks a little bit to accommodate for delays. He explained that people paying for a home build will have unrealistic expectations about a start date, especially when the building plans need more work and can lead to delays.
“People are notorious on changing their minds and delays. When we’re busy, we’ve got close to 20 guys on. And, my guys want to work every day. When the client changes his mind on something and you lose two or three days, you have to have a fallback job to go on,” he said.
According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, there were 246 housing starts on the Island this spring, an increase from 157 during this time period last year. Also this spring, there were 416 houses under construction – an increase from 373 the previous spring.