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http://news.newstimes.com/story.php?id=64313

Builders face spike in cost of materials
By Joe Gould and Mark Langlois

THE NEWS-TIMES
The News-Times/Carol Kaliff
Peter Pinckney Jr. of Lucre Enterprises insulates heating and air 
conditioning ducts at 25 Germantown Road.

DANBURY — National demand for building materials is leading to higher 
construction prices around Danbury and the surrounding areas — with higher 
demand in China, the war in Iraq, and hurricanes to blame.

The National Association of Home Builders reported contractors are facing 
shortages of cement, while everyone is paying higher prices for steel, 
plywood, wafer board and sheetrock.

This isn't news to local suppliers or contractors, who have been seeing 
rising prices for months.

"We've been getting warnings from suppliers that shortages were coming, so we 
tend to buy quickly," said Gary Hawley, president of Hawley Construction, 
which worked on several building projects this summer.

The projects included finishing the second floor of the office building at 25 
Germantown Road and renovating the former Department of Motor Vehicles office 
on Hayestown Road into the new Advanced Dermcare medical office.

"The prices have gone way up on sheetrock and steel studs," Hawley said.

At Matz Lumber Co., 212 White St., workers have seen prices rising for nearly 
a year.

"Plywood went up, as did sheetrock and wafer board. Those few items did go 
up, but all the prices have been going up," said Michael Goldstein, a 
co-owner of the lumber yard. "Concrete went up, but for years it didn't go 
up."

Goldstein said one cause is the war in Iraq, where the United States started 
sending building supplies a year ago. But in general prices tend to rise due 
to inflation, he said.

In Danbury, developer Jeanne Williamson-Iapaluccio said the higher prices are 
costing her money. Williamson-Iapaluccio is developing Fieldstone Estates, a 
24-home subdivision with roughly $1 million homes on two-acre lots off Middle 
River Road.

Williamson-Iapaluccio said price increases have hurt her profits because the 
company builds homes on a contract basis.

"There have been significant increases for steel, which is used for the 
wiring for electrical services, for the p
[AD]
arts the plumbers use, and for the water main extensions," 
Williamson-Iapaluccio said.

Danbury had to put a magnet school on Middle River Road out to bid a second 
time, due to delays in starting the project.

"The price of steel jumped 30 percent in less than a year," said Farid 
Khouri, assistant city engineer. "That's a big increase. It's an added 
expense for us."

At Ring's End Lumber in New Milford, a 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood, 
typically used for roofing and side walls, jumped to $26 a few months ago, 
from $13 at about this time last year, said general manager Rick Polhemus.

The price has settled at about $19 a sheet now. An ordinary 8-foot-long 
two-by-four, a common lumber used for building construction, costs $4 today, 
up from $2.40 about a year ago.

The gypsum used in concrete is more expensive and harder to get, said Todd 
Kaufman of M&M Precast Corp. on Padanaram Road in Danbury.

"The price is up, and it is much harder to get delivery. You have to call 
more in advance," Kaufman said.

"Our suppliers have to look at what the plant's going to produce way in 
advance. It takes a lot more time to schedule. We're OK because they know 
that we've been here forever, and we'll be here after the crisis. It's the 
guys buying redi-mix who are having the hard time."

Redi-mix is premixed cement, from which concrete is made, and what Kaufman 
said is he has a good relationship with suppliers that assures him a supply, 
something that isn't true for people who buy only occasionally.

Kaufman said some of the problem is supplies that used to come to the United 
States are being shipped to China's booming economy.

Other materials are being diverted to Florida, where the National Association 
of Home Builders reported shortages this spring, and now needs even more as a 
result of hurricane repair work.

Contact Mark Langlois

at mlanglois@newstimes.com

or at (203) 731-3337.