FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — There’s a high demand for places to live in Northwest Arkansas and local contractors are saying building materials are hard to come by.
Also, the prices for lumber, steel and concrete are changing daily. The supply chain issues caused largely by the pandemic, and made worse by the war in Ukraine are making the home-buying process a headache for many.
Contractors like Brock Posey with Southern Brothers Construction in Springdale can’t get building materials in quick enough.
“It’s all through the chain,” said Posey. “There’s just broken pieces, something’s coming overseas, something gets hung up offshore, all of that kind of stuff.”
So contractors have to try out different ways to speed things up. Especially for things like windows that Posey said are taking up to six months to get in right now. They are ordering windows the day they sign their contracts with clients, even before they’ve started the project.
Another contractor, Sayed Ahmed with Ahmed Construction in Fayetteville is running into the same issues, so he has to get creative with his materials. He is starting to use old shipping containers.
“I think these containers could be reused for our structure making it more efficient and eco friendly,” said Ahmed. “It is faster too and that is the only possible way of making housing cheaper.”
With the changing cost of building materials, Ahmed said it’s hard for contractors to make accurate estimates for those looking to build a home, which is another factor making the process take longer.
Posey said he doesn’t expect prices to come down since the demand for houses are so high and people are going to keep buying these materials.
At the end of the day, building affordable and timely houses is most important for the local contractors to keep their businesses going.
“This is how we make our money,” said Posey. “This is our livelihood. So we take this serious, we take what we do serious.”
Along with supply chain issues, Poynter Institute, a non-profit, reports lumber costing three times as much than it did pre-pandemic.
