Frustration builds as Islanders struggle with high lumber prices

No end in sight to rising construction material prices, expert says

SUMMERSIDE — Danny MacNevin is constantly building things.

At least, that’s how the software developer and musician would like to spend his spare time.

Despite his passion for woodworking, MacNevin said he is not going to start any major projects this year and it’s not because he doesn’t want to.

“I was shocked ... the prices are just too high,” he told the Journal Pioneer.

MacNevin built a deck for his home in 2015. During that project, he made a spreadsheet detailing all the items he would need and how much they would cost.

He compared those prices from 2015 to today’s and found increases as high as 169 per cent on common softwood lumber pieces.

“It’s getting to the point where a normal, middle-class, working family cannot afford to build a decent family home,” MacNevin said.

“I’m terribly concerned with these prices as a homeowner,” he added.

It’s not just homeowners and hobbyists who are concerned.

Alicia Packwood is the executive officer of the P.E.I. chapter of the Canadian

Home Builders Association. She said association members across the country are concerned,

as well.

“It is a difficult situation because there isn’t an easy answer,” Packwood said of the current lumber shortage.

There are many misconceptions about the shortage, Packwood explained, like that COVID-19 is the sole cause of the rise in prices.

The problem began four years ago with wildfires in Canada’s softwood export leader, British Columbia, and then the following year in neighbouring Alberta.

First, B.C. suffered two horrible wildfire seasons in a row.

Figures from the government of B.C. show in 2017 and 2018 a combined 2.5 million hectares of forest, an area over four times larger than P.E.I., were lost to wildfires.

In 2019, Alberta, according to government data, lost 880,000 hectares to wildfires — its worst wildfire season since 1981.

There were also major transportation disruptions in 2020, when a series of protests broke out on CN rail lines in January in support of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation. This led to a shutdown of most CN freight trains.

Then came COVID in early 2020 and an unanticipated building frenzy began, pushing the already stretched lumber supply to its limit.

There were 27 per cent more new home constructions started in February

2020 than the previous year, according to the Canadian Home Builders Association.

The increase in new builds faded away in March and that lasted until June, as most of the country was on COVID19 lockdown. Numbers picked back up in July and have remained high ever since.

“In April 2020, a two-byfour was around $3 and now that same two-by-four, in April 2021, is $7.50 to $8, the percentage of that increase is very high,” Packwood said.

COVID-19 also shut down many sawmills, limiting production even more.

The shortage has been affecting contractors in P.E.I. and all over the country as they struggle to give accurate quotes in a market of constantly rising prices.

“In some cases, our builder could quote a house build and six months later when the home is finished the price could be 25 to 30 per cent higher,” Packwood said.

In situations like that, contractors are left with two bad options: either absorb the cost or pass it on to the property owner, which can be seen in home prices in P.E.I., which on average are over 20 per cent higher than last year.

Even more troubling is the end of this shortage doesn’t look to be coming any time soon, Packwood said.

“The projections that we have seen from financial experts aren’t showing that it’s going to be trending down anytime in the next couple of years.”

As a result, the Canadian Home Builders Association has begun lobbying both federal and provincial governments to see what can be done to help bring prices back down.

Packwood admits there isn’t much that provincial governments can do by themselves.

Another potential solution, Packwood said, would be for governments in Atlantic Canada to change how sawmills are licensed.

Currently, wood from unlicensed sawmills cannot be used by members of the Canadian Home Builder Association. By integrating those businesses, the supply could increase slightly.

Packwood admits that may not even be possible but, in a situation like this, every option needs to be considered.

Brad Trivers is P.E.I.’s Minister of Social Development and Housing, and he said he recently met with the Canadian Home Builders Association and heard how its members are struggling.

“The department is currently looking into ways to continue to support Islanders and developers,” Trivers said in a statement.