Supply, labor shortages creating home construction delays

The Triangle is short on homes, and developers are short on materials and workers. That’s meant delays for some people waiting to move in.

5 On Your Side found out the solution is not an easy one.

Kendall Jones says he should already be moved into his new condo on North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus by Lake Raleigh.

"I am kinda homeless right now," he said.

Jones says there have been multiple delays building his North Shore condo.

"It’s quite stressful," Jones said.

While he’s been waiting, his rental lease ended and he’s missed a family trip and Thanksgiving thinking he’d be able to move into his unit.

"Then they told me Christmas, I said, ‘I don’t believe anything you guys are saying anymore, so I’m gonna go enjoy Christmas,’" Jones said.

Developer Roland Gammon, whose firm is behind the North Shore condos, has been building in the Triangle for 40 years.

"We’ve never seen it like this," he said. "I need to make sure that they believe me.

"You think you’ve got material lined up, and the trucks going to come tomorrow, and they’ve got a third of the stuff on it."

5 On Your Side has been tracking construction supply shortages for years. It’s been a problem since the beginning of the pandemic, when some in the construction industry compared piles of wood to gold.

The shortages haven’t stopped, they’re just changing.

"The trend now is black windows. They can’t get those anymore. They’re 57 weeks out," said Steven Webb with the North Carolina Home Builders Association.

Vinyl siding, fireplaces, drywall, garage doors, flooring, glue and more are all in short supply.

The situation with transformers has been so bad, trade groups recently asked Congress to evoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up production by $1 billion. It’s a problem Gammon ran into trying to get Duke Energy to connect power to his building.

"There are certain components they can’t get," Gammon said.

Webb thinks the material issues are temporary. "I think the inventory will return," he told 5 On Your Side.

The bigger problem is the work force.

"We have a huge, long-term problem with labor in our industry, the population of plumbers, electricians, mechanical, carpenters, framers. There is no work force in their 20s and 30s, a lot of that force is just older," Webb explained.

In April, WRAL TechWire spoke to Alex Forter Sirota, executive director of the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, who said there is a shortage of homes to buy and North Carolina communities need about 900,000 housing units by 2030 to meet the growing need in the state.

Failing to close the housing shortfall threatens to drive prices higher and keep buyers like Jones waiting.

"Until they tell me a date and I can go to my mortgage company and lock it in, I’m just gonna kinda keep floating," Jones said.

Once you sign a contract to buy a new home, you’re committed. There are a few things to know and do when you’re building a home:

• Get a trusted real estate agent to represent you from the start.
• Before signing an offer to purchase, read it closely or have an attorney review it. That way you know if there are any exit options. An attorney may also be able to help you negotiate an exit provision if delays are significant.
• Thoroughly vet your builder
• If you’re in a hurry, now is likely not the time to build. Be ready for possible delays getting a build started and more delays during construction.
• Consider having your own inspector check out workmanship and that all required permits are being pulled.
• Be ready to substitute for materials that are in short supply.