Landfall on lumber & labor
Hurricane Harvey hits construction where it hurts: workers and materials
Hurricane Harvey is exacerbating problems, not just creating them, for Oklahoma construction.
Wholesale lumber costs had jumped some 23 percent since spring because of a U.S. Canada trade dispute, and increased demand in the wake of Harvey in Texas plus anticipated damage from Hurricane Irma in Florida will put more pressure on prices, according to the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association.
Costs for plywood, millwork, other building materials and transportation also are on the rise, said Dan Reeves, president of the association and owner of Landmark Fine Homes in Norman.
Distribution has been hit, with tile, carpet and other imported goods backed up at the Port of Houston, leaving builders and customers to select from materials already on hand, Reeves said.
Harvey “will impact lumber, shingles, virtually everything,” said Steve Shoemaker, vice president for sales and marketing for Ideal Homes of Norman. “We anticipate the
cost of construction to go up at least $500 per home beginning next month. And I think that’s just the starting point. As the rebuilding hits a stride, prices will readjust.”
Looking for help
A chronic labor shortage also could worsen, if plumbers, electricians, framers, trim carpenters and other tradespeople flock to hurricane-ravaged areas for higher wages, said Mike Means, executive director of the home builders association.
Labor costs will rise, Shoemaker said.
“We will see rising construction labor prices, initially starting at the point of destruction, then working outward. The demand for labor in Houston will send prices up, and likely lead to a shortage of labor in Oklahoma City. This again will impact the price of housing,” he said.
Residential builders aren’t the only ones hurting for skilled trades. Commercial contractors cite the lack of experienced workers — a 17-year low — for sluggish job growth nationally even as construction surges, according to Associated General Contractors of America.
Some 70 percent of respondents to a new AGC-Autodesk labor survey reported chronic difficulty filling hourly craft positions such as painters, plasterers, carpenters, concrete workers and bricklayers.
The hurricanes’ effect on construction labor will bring to light “a systemic issue that’s taken many years to evolve: We have an aging workforce in the construction industry,” Means said, noting that the average age for a plumber is 60, and for an electrician is 58.
Public schools and public policy push young people to go to college, but “some people need to be heading to the trade schools,” he said. “We need to be getting younger people involved with the trades, recognizing that they can make a great living in the trades, whether it’s a plumber, electrician, framer, trim carpenter — in any of those areas they could do really well.”
Meanwhile, Reeves said, he and other homebuilders wind up training crews themselves.
“That’s part of what I was doing out on a job site today, working with some people on final grades and training them on how to read the plot plans to make sure they get the grade going in the right way,” he said. “These are people who are trying to come into the industry and learning to do what’s needed.”