BC Wildfires Cause Spike in Home Building Costs

British Columbia is in the midst of the worst wildfire season the province has ever seen, with 616 fires over .01 hectares being tracked on the unofficial list kept by the province this summer. Most of those are no longer active, but the loss of forest, supplies, and disruption caused by the fires have led to the inevitable: a spike in the cost of building supplies.

Victorians considering building their own home in the near future will have to deal with a 10% rise in the price of plywood, as well as a 40% increase in the cost of oriented strand board, according to the Times Colonist.

The construction boom has also made finding contractors and skilled labourers difficult, meaning companies aren’t able to run as many crews as they could, and lengthening wait times for the consumer. The high demand for the city’s limited home service companies and contractors has driven up the cost for current and potential homeowners.

Casey Edge, director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association, had some concerns about the impact of rising costs on new home builds: “Those costs are much worse than last year and the year before, they are all rising so at what point do the chickens come home to roost”?

With a rise in costs, generally comes a dip in new builds. Edge remained optimistic, commenting that “now the question is what happens with the remaining five months, that’s anybody’s guess, but there’s still strength in the market in housing construction, and I guess it’s possible we may hit last year’s numbers.”

What do you think? Will we continue to see a rise in prices for materials and skilled labour as the fire season continues on and the construction industry continues to remain strong?

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