Home Builders Association of Hickory-Catawba Valley

built a lot of spec houses got burned pretty bad in the County,” Crouch recalls. “We’ve probably only got four people that actually still build spec homes. And most of them are building small spec homes, not big ones.” Multi-family residential construction in the area has helped to curb some of the ongoing recession but a new wrench was thrown in the works with the COVID-19 health crisis: a combination of hot lumber sales and rising prices. “This actually postponed a job or two for me,” Crouch admits. “I’ve heard the same from other people, too. The price of material jumped up about 35% starting mid-April, and only started climbing back down as recently as October. What happened was, everybody was home and there was a demand for building treated lumber decks. There became a shortage of treated lumber. So, they started buying the domestic lumber to treat, and it caused an impact on the supply.” The pandemic pushed several timber harvesting companies across the state to curtail production, or close outright in response to slack demand and volatile market prices. “Some of the mills dealt with outbreaks, while others pumped the brakes on purpose, anticipating that COVID-19 would slow the forestry industry down,” says Crouch. “So, you had a cross between the two – homeowners stuck at home who decided to embark upon projects, and the industry decelerating production as a response to early signs that everything was eventually going to shut down. At one point, you couldn’t even get certain sizes in treated lumber. It’s amazing how the pandemic’s changed things. But the demand, as far as an individual looking to get an addition done on their house, hasn’t slowed down on my end, I’ll tell you that.” The difficulty has rather been finding skilled labor to meet the demand. According to Kamp, “Some of the builders I work with are having a heck of a time. Our HBA doesn’t have large tract builders. We have a bunch of small builders, Executive Officer, Kim Crawford