Needless to say, it’s been an interesting year for C Brannon Construction. We’ve been extremely thankful to everyone in our orbit, from trade partners, to staff and our clients. The home renovation industry is unexpectedly busy in the tail end of 2020, and we’d like to fill you in on some things to anticipate and think about if you’re planning a renovation this year, or in early 2021.
Being at home = new projects
Calgarians (and Canadians) have spent a lot of time at home this year. All that time cooped up with your family gave a lot of us big ideas about renovating, remodeling or expanding our homes. People are either in need of more room, sick of looking at the same spaces day after day, or decided that in lieu of a vacation or other big spend, they’d sink money back into their houses. Regardless of the motivation, projects are on the upswing in Calgary, and it’s creating some very unique situations for general contractors.
Supply & Demand
Long story short, construction materials have proven difficult to get a hold of, and there’s a few reasons why. For starters, COVID has played havoc within the global supply chain, meaning that materials are not able to show up and move as fast or as reliably as they used to. The second piece of material shortages is due to the fact that home renovations are hot right now, for both the DIYers and anyone who’s looking to expand, or change their living space. If you’re looking to put together a project either on your own, or with a general contractor this year, you’ll want to allow for extended or missed timelines for this factor alone.
Difficult To Manage
At C Brannon Construction, we thrive on keeping consistent timelines. It’s a big part of our overall workflow that gives you as a homeowner a much greater sense of transparency. Material shortages can wreak havoc on those timelines, making it difficult to hit big milestones and keep the project moving forward. For example, if you have your decking installers booked well in advance for 3-4 days worth of work, but your materials for that job aren’t able to arrive on time for that to happen, you start backing up not only your work, but the calendars of your tradespeople along with it. For many of us in the General Contracting business, this is just another day at work. However for a homeowner attempting to manage trades, material deliveries and service, it can quickly turn into a nightmare scenario.
Be Prepared for New Shortages
If you visited any supplier or retailer this summer, it was quite clear that homeowners across Calgary were taking on a lot of exterior projects, with siding, roofing and decking material becoming very difficult to keep in stock. As we move into the colder months, we anticipate shortages in the sorts of materials you associate with interior projects, like cabinetry, flooring and interior trim and doors. Without a return to the office in sight, we’re anticipating seeing shortages into mid-2021.
General Contractors Make it Easy
Even with shortages of materials and labour and interrupted timelines, a General Contractor is the best choice to navigating the world of home renovation. At C Brannon Construction, we do our best to put you in the driver’s seat to eliminate surprises, interruptions and confusion surrounding timelines.
If you’d like to learn more about how we do it, check out the video below, or read about the Brannon Way. If you’re interested in a home renovation, but aren’t sure about your timelines, or if you’ll be able to get the materials you want, the team at C Brannon Construction can ensure your project moves smoothly in 2020.