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For some time now, the supporting narrative to our costs increases on general goods have been aimed at the ubiquitous supply chain issues. We see it in groceries, household items and clothing, with little hope of it subsiding anytime soon. This slowly forming economic dark cloud is also affecting the building industry in nearly all of its scopes and when coupled with the labor shortages that resulted post-pandemic, it can set in motion a perfect storm forcing considerably higher costs and delays.
The not-so-subtle canary in the coalmine for builders and contractors may be the shortages currently being experienced by concrete manufacturers. Concrete, like the building industry itself, is reliant on its own supply chain since it is a composite product made of a combination of aggregates, sand, water and cement and when any one of these pieces is unavailable, it naturally affects production. Even when these products are available, the actual manufacturing of concrete is time consuming and labor intensive, which the aforementioned labor shortages are certainly not helping.
What makes concrete shortages particularly problematic is its necessity at the beginning of a project. The foundation of a building is done with concrete and delaying this phase, delays every segment thereafter. Those delays result in costs overruns which are inevitable passed on to the consumer or new homebuyer. In commercial and industrial construction, concrete is needed throughout the entirety of the build – especially for tilt-up construction – where concrete panels are placed to form the walls of a building structure. Much also has been written about the new federal infrastructure legislation and its aim to rehabilitate and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, but how will concrete shortages affect those proposed projects?
Unfortunately, there is no indication that the concrete shortages will subside anytime soon, and still the demand for new construction in both the residential and commercial markets are at an all time high. This difficult scenario makes it very important that suppliers, contractors and builders work together in the most transparent mode possible, to maximize the use of the product available and prioritize with the utmost efficiency, the allocation of concrete for optimal output. It is not the time for adversarial tactics or finger pointing, but rather the perfect time to show why the building industry – in all of its forms – has always shown resiliency in the face of economic pressures and has always found a way to get the job done.
