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By Dylana Kneeshaw

kamloops residential construction

Rising construction costs, timelines and workforce demand in Kamloops

Apr 9, 2021 | 3:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — There’s plenty of residential construction demand in Kamloops, but many builders are being hit hard with pandemic-related supply chain problems and rising material costs.

Canadian Home Builders Association Central Interior President Jere Lorenz says new builds and renovations are increasingly popular, but rising material prices and delayed shipments mean it’s costing more to build a home and taking more time.

Lorenz is also the Master Builder and Vice President of Operations for the Orchards Walk Development in Kamloops, and knows firsthand how unstable project timelines and budgets are right now.

“Appliances are delayed, insulation is delayed. Sometimes there is no insulation in the City of Kamloops. When you’ve got houses ready to go, you have to wait for the loads to come in for supplies,” he explains, “And it’s not just that, it’s all products, from lumber to windows — everything. It’s manufacturing and supply and demand.”

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As a result, Lorenz says any costed-out budget can change in a manner of days.

“I just did a budget for a duplex on one end, and now we’re building another duplex and that was done a couple months ago, and now we’re up over $30,000 in increased pricing on lumber, on trusses, on cabinets, poly, insulation.”

While all types of materials are seeing price fluctuations, lumber has seen the largest increases and it can be difficult to obtain on time.

“A year ago we were paying about $9.67 a sheet for OSB,” says Lorenz, “Now it’s around $50 a sheet.”

With the amount of home construction in Kamloops, certified tradespeople are kept busy. This year, students at Thompson Rivers University are even being headhunted by companies looking for tradespeople.

TRU’s Dean of Trades and Technology, Baldev Pooni, says it doesn’t take long for students to find work.

“We recently had a class of residential construction complete in Kamloops two weeks ago, and every one of those 16 graduates is employed,” he says. “Some were picked up basically before they even finished the course. Likewise, we ran another course like that in Williams Lake and we’ve had similar results. About two-thirds of the class within two weeks were working.”

Pooni says TRU is also trying to bring in students outside of the usual demographics who sign up for trades programs to keep up with the growing workforce demand.

“The number of people retiring, and the number of new projects coming on — some of the infrastructure projects, widening of the highways and things like this — have a great demand for graduates.”

It’s a challenging supply-and-demand situation for the construction industry, but it has made for ample employment opportunities in the trades.

Lorenz says there is no supply-and-demand ceiling in sight, and they’re hopeful for a better balance in the coming months.

“I’ve been in construction for over four decades and I’ve never seen anything like this, the way it is right now.”