Escalating construction material prices have moved from painful to chokepoint and are now widely delaying or derailing commercial real estate projects nationwide. Lumber, steel, plastics, gypsum, wallboard, insulation, and cement are all seeing prices escalate, causing heartburn for developers and contractors.
"Back in April 2017, the U.S. enacted 24% tariffs on lumber purchased from Canada, so what happened is that dramatically slowed down demand," said Thomas CEO Tony Uphoff, who runs a platform for product sourcing and supplier selection. "In response to that, Canadian mills actually closed locations because they were acting on the supply and demand shift."