Between COVID-19, the five named storms that hit the state in 2020 and the industry’s ever-present labor shortage, Louisiana contractors have spent the last year trying to get by with a maxed-out workforce and pandemic-related supply chain shortages.
While price increases in softwood lumber have pushed new home costs higher due to homebuilders’ extensive use of the material, estimators for all other building types have felt the pinch as well.
Although a number of input categories have experienced significant increases in prices in recent months, the overall price gains are largely attributable to energy prices.
An open-source database of 100 common building materials, which is now available to the public free of charge, lists the materials’ ingredients and their potential harmful threat to human health and the environment.