Material shortages are still affecting construction, but the industry is adapting and working around shifting supply circumstances according to EllisDon vice-president of preconstruction services Daniel Murphy.
Material shortages are still affecting construction, but the industry is adapting to and working around shifting supply circumstances.
“It’s been pretty dramatic and a lot of that is tied into supply chain challenges, whether it’s the cost of freight going up or the cost of metals increasing, which has been significant,” he said. “There’s a lot of other inputs that go into the supply and installation of your curtain wall systems, labour for example, is going up but not at the same rate as materials. Aluminum has gone up but not to the same degree,” he added. “It may impact, but it’s more like what I’d call a five per cent impact on the overall cost of supply and installation of a curtain wall system on the building itself.
“As we tender, if the client we’re working with is willing to fund the job early, we’re offering to provide deposits to our subcontractors essentially upon award which then allows them to go out and secure the materials they need earlier,” he said.“In some cases that requires them to go out and buy materials and store them for as long as needed until it’s required for the project.