SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Last week many were worried about the gasoline shortage, and the week before that people worried about the lumber shortage. Now, other industries are dealing with supply shortages.
Some of those shortages include:
- Computer chips
- Chlorine
- Steel
- Ketchup
However, locally the home building industry seems to be getting hit the hardest when it comes to supply shortages.
“It’s really a guessing game because one day, it might be lumber,” said Ryan Green, First Choice Custom Homes founder. “One day, it might be doors and windows. One day, it might be plumbing parts. Foundations, for instance, have been a challenge because of the weather.”
Green says the home building business is still experiencing shortages and delays in products.
“The biggest issue has been delays, however, there’s been some price increases that have come with that as well,” said Green. “It just seems like everybody’s struggling to keep up with the demand. It’s typically adding a couple of months to the project.”
Part of the problem is the time and workforce that was lost to COVID-19 last year.
“Getting people back to work, getting these plants back online, they’re not able to keep up with production,” said Green.
Over the past year, First Choice Homes has developed some tricks to getting as much product as possible to build a home.
“We’re trying to find new products to use when we come up with a big price problem to try to keep costs down and then find multiple suppliers and then just try to order everything as far in advance as we can,” said Green.
Green also says they’ve worked as best they could with families that are eager to get into their new home.
“It can be frustrating if you’re living in a rental or you’re living with family,” said Green. “Even the understanding folks get frustrated from time to time. We’re trying to stay ahead of it as best we can.”
Paul Mueller Company says it is not experiencing any shortages in steel at the moment and does not expect any changes to supply for the rest of the year.
“We have long-standing relationships with our domestic suppliers and we are in constant communication with them regarding our stainless steel orders… We are in an aggressive hiring mode right now as we see increasing demand from our customer base for our stainless steel processing equipment.”
Paul Mueller Company
