With the current volatility in the market and repercussions from COVID-19, SLAM Construction Services is closely monitoring the New England construction material supply chain for pricing and availability changes. This enhanced monitoring will allow for a more responsive dialog between our clients, designers and subcontractors for solutions to better mitigate the effects these may have on our current projects and projects in design.

Raw Materials Costs

We are seeing marginal increases in the raw materials needed to produce finished goods.  With the exception of petroleum, which is bouncing back from historic lows, all other raw material costs being tracked continue to be fairly stable over the period evaluated.  Conversations with subcontractors who rely on these raw materials, and the construction materials derived, state that the supplies are good and prices are fairly flat.

Construction Materials Costs

We are hearing from our subcontractors that the construction materials below are in plentiful supply. The cost of these products, with the exception of lumber, has been constant over the last month. The lumber mills are scaling back production of lumber base products due to an overabundance of inventory.

MEP Equipment Costs

The data collected on HVAC equipment is based on standard off the shelf products. Custom or semi-custom equipment lead times are doubled and pricing has increased based upon equipment sizing. All domestic electrical components have seen little effect from COVID-19, but all imported equipment is suffering factory delays and price increases.

Jared Cormier