Pros Feeling the Pressure of Supply Chain and Project Delays

Home improve­ment pro­fes­sion­als across the coun­try say they’re expe­ri­enc­ing chal­lenges in com­plet­ing projects in recent months. While infla­tion is cre­at­ing more issues for pros try­ing to keep their costs to the con­sumer down, sup­ply chain issues and labor short­ages are still plagu­ing the industry.

A vast major­i­ty of pro­fes­sion­als say it’s tak­ing longer to receive pur­chased prod­ucts and that this delay trans­lates to longer waits in start­ing client projects.

The Home Improve­ment Research Insti­tute polled hun­dreds of pros regard­ing these issues and is shar­ing feed­back on how chal­leng­ing sup­ply chains are caus­ing project delays and how much of a role loca­tion plays.

Supply Chain Issues Are Growing

Com­pared to six months ago, near­ly 60% of pro­fes­sion­als say it takes longer for them to receive the prod­ucts they ordered for projects. It should come as no sur­prise that more than half of pro­fes­sion­als (58%) iden­ti­fy lum­ber and ply­wood as the pri­ma­ry dri­vers of these extend­ed delays, close­ly fol­lowed by build­ing mate­ri­als (56%) and then win­dows and doors (37%).

Not only are these delays strain­ing the prof­it mar­gins for pros, but also they are begin­ning to take a toll on work­ing rela­tion­ships. While only 18% of pro­fes­sion­als say they have dropped their cur­rent sup­pli­ers because of sup­ply con­straints, 58% say they are stick­ing with their cur­rent part­ners — even though they’ve explored pos­si­ble changes.

A major­i­ty of pros are feel­ing the pres­sure of longer wait times thanks to sup­ply chain issues with key build­ing sup­plies such as lum­ber, build­ing mate­ri­als, and win­dows and doors. And while few have made sig­nif­i­cant changes, many are con­sid­er­ing look­ing at new sup­pli­ers due to these sup­ply chain disruptions.

Project Timelines Moving Out Further 

With sup­ply chain dis­rup­tions, pros are see­ing some projects tak­ing longer than usu­al to begin. After accept­ing a project, most aren’t able to begin until two weeks out, though most are start­ed with­in a month.. Dur­ing the last six months, 38% of pros report­ed longer project time­lines, and 24% expect the same over the next six months. In con­trast, only 6% believe the time­lines will get shorter.

Longer time­lines have not gone unno­ticed by con­sumers; in fact, 38% of pros report­ed los­ing bids thanks to the extend­ed time it will take to begin a new project.

Regions and Construction Types Make a Difference 

While the strain of sup­ply chain issues and project delays is felt across the coun­try, some areas notice the squeeze more than oth­ers. More than 61% of pros in the West and the South noticed an extend­ed wait in receiv­ing pur­chas­es over the past six months.

How the type of con­struc­tion affects sup­ply chain issues is per­haps the most inter­est­ing take­away. In fact, almost 72% of new builders say they expe­ri­ence delays com­pared to home remod­el­ers (60%).

Want to see all of our find­ings? Log in with your HIRI account to read our full con­trac­tor sur­vey.
Don’t have an account? Join HIRI today!