Usually March is good for two things in the North, March Madness and spring weather. This spring is a little slower than years past as construction material pricing has been surging for some time and now oil pricing is also surging which is only adding more fuel to the fire. So just like my March Madness bracket, I am sure everyone’s budgets are busted right now which is leading to some project starts sliding.
While we have been dealing with the pricing fluctuations to the best of our ability for the past year, once we get past that hurdle we then have to overcome the supply chain issues. This is taking a lot more pre-project planning as some materials are simply just not available in the time frame in which we need them to meet the schedule. With being a traveling GC, we have been able to foster relationships in many different regions which has given us the ability to procure some items quicker than getting them locally. This isn’t always the case but this is just one way in which we have been combating the ongoing issues.
Both of these items are very big risks and while most developers are risk takers, we pride ourselves on our ability to control risk. While this has been extremely challenging to do the last year, I have seen a lot of creativity with owners, architects, and my peers at The Douglas Company with combating these issues and now we are starting to see some of the projects that were slated to start in 2021 getting contracts finalized and work underway.
Connor Casper
Project Manager
The Douglas Company
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