Increasing Cost of Construction Materials

Construction material costs have seen an increase in recent years, and they have now hit a forty-year record high. This is due to a number of different reasons, such as an increase in global demand which manufacturers are unable to meet because of shortages and delays. Due to the pandemic, there are not enough workers at ports, causing further delays in material delivery. Different logistical issues and shortages of materials naturally result in a price surge.

Supply Shortage

Companies are forced to increase the prices of construction materials due to the supply shortage. This shortage may be due to supply chain issues and other logistical problems that surfaced after the pandemic. Disruptions in the supply chain always result in building material costs soaring. However, due to the limited number of employees at port and a lack of shipping containers, the increase in costs this time around is much more significant.

Impact of COVID-19

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most countries were in total lockdown. In China, this situation led to transportation and logistical issues. Some of the busiest ports in the world also stopped working at this time causing the delivery of materials to be delayed because of a shipping container shortage. After lockdown, a lot of countries began to invest in new infrastructure development projects in an effort to revitalize their economy. This also contributed to the increase in demand for construction equipment like cat 966D and building materials globally, ultimately causing the cost of materials to soar.

Production of Construction Materials

The increase in construction material costs cannot just be attributed to the increase in demand and shortage of supply. The costs of production of building materials have also seen an increase in recent years due to the rising global oil prices, taxes, and exchange rates. As these things have an impact on the cost of production, they consequently increase the cost of construction materials as well. After the pandemic, there have been a lot of new health protocols and government restrictions placed on manufacturers. These protocols have had a negative impact on productivity, and a lot of manufacturers suffer because of it.

You can try to stabilize material costs by optimizing your building design in a way that requires fewer materials to be used. Other strategies that you can use to contain the increasing material prices are panelization and utilizing a controlled environment. Panelization can help reduce wastage and save building material. If you were to manufacture in a controlled environment, it would allow you to decrease material waste.