FEATURE STORY
6 • May 2021
Coast River Business Journal
Industry Spotlight:
Home builders navigate high lumber prices, supply shortages
Story by Emily Lindblom
a price and don’t purchase the lumber until six
months later and the prices increase, so the build-
ers get stuck with the cost.”
Houck decided to buy four houses worth of
lumber in advance so he could get it before the
price increased even more.
“I feel like a lot of us builders are trying really
hard to preserve our margin on projects we’ve
already signed,” Houck said.
According to the National Association of
Home Builders, 47% of home builders who
responded to an April 2021 survey said they’ve
responded to the rise in lumber prices by includ-
ing price escalation clauses in their sales and con-
struction contracts.
He and other home builders used to mar-
ket the houses as soon as they broke ground, but
now they’ve been waiting until the construction is
complete to decide the price.
“For one house, we were going to do high
$400,000s so I’m glad we waited because by
the time we were ready we did low $600,000s,”
Houck said.
Coast River Business Journal
elindblom@crbizjournal.com
TRAVEL TRAILER/5TH WHEEL
Staffi ng shortage
EMILY LINDBLOM
Builders work on a new house in The Reserve in Gearhart.
Staffi ng has been one of the top concerns in the
industry as well.
“On top of having to deal with COVID-type
town living anywhere so that’s got to be a draw for
their market.”
Lumber prices
Builders have had to adapt to the increased
cost of lumber within the last year.
“Lumber has doubled in price in the last 12
months so keeping up our pricing in front of the
rise in lumber costs has been a challenge,” Pucci
said. “The problem in construction is we quote
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As they try to keep up with the high demand
for new housing in the Columbia-Pacifi c region,
home builders are facing challenges, including
increased lumber prices and lack of staffi ng.
Wesley Houck has been building houses
between Gearhart and Warrenton through his com-
pany, Evergreen Construction LLC. He said he’s
fortunate construction is one of the sectors that has
remained open during the coronavirus pandemic,
but closures in other industries have led to a lack
of supplies and long delays in getting materials.
“Supply chains are really wonky right now and
I’m assuming some of that’s because of COVID,”
Houck said. “For example, our glass for show-
ers and mirrors got delayed three weeks because
someone at a glass factory got COVID and the
factory shut down. We’ve been seeing that a lot.”
Houck added he’s had to wait for four months
to get appliances, so now he orders appliances as
soon as he starts framing a house.
Eric Pucci, the owner of Newrock Homes and
two RE/MAX Real Estate offi ces, said demand
for houses in Southwest Washington has been
really strong and the inventory has been at criti-
cally low levels. Pucci is on the board of directors
for both the Lower Columbia Contractors Associ-
ation as well as the Lower Columbia Association
of Realtors.
While many people have been working
remotely during the pandemic, some have decided
to invest in a house or move away from where
their job is based.
“That’s been a lot of the draw to Pacifi c
County,” Pucci said. “I know the Long Beach
Peninsula has some of the most aff ordable coastal
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Almost half of the builders who responded to an April 2021 survey through the National As-
sociation of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Housing Market Index said they’ve been including
clauses in their contracts indicating the home prices could go up.