If you build it, you’ll pay a lot
}} Lumber goes through the roof as
local building supplies throttled by pandemic, more home developments and international factors
GEOFF COLEMAN Writer-at-large
Chris Handley of Handley Lumber in Fenelon Falls. Photo: Geoff Coleman.
Pete and Kristy Lindsay recently became empty nesters. After finding a lot north of Coboconk to build on, they took the plunge and started planning their dream home. They were past the point of no return when the pandemic indirectly became part of the planning process. As the prices of building materials began their meteoric climb, instead of pressing pause the couple forged ahead with their dream. The site has been cleared, levelled, graded and is ready for the foundation — and their current house is up for sale. You would be forgiven for thinking the Lindsays are risk-takers, but they said they are more pragmatists than gamblers when it comes to their situation.
It’s no secret that lumber prices have skyrocketed in the last several months. Chris Handley, owner of Handley Lumber in Fenelon Falls, says there are both local and international reasons for the lumber sticker shock. Handley, who is confident this scenario will be written up in economics textbooks in the future, explained that the increases result from a perfect storm of COVID-fuelled supply and demand factors, with some environmental and systemic challenges mixed in. On the demand side, with more people working from their houses, there has been an uptick in renovation projects. Money that might have been earmarked for a trip to Europe instead goes to an addition or a new deck.
34
www.lindsayadvocate.ca
