As the COVID-19 pandemic surges on, it not only impacts a person’s health, but also their livelihood.

John McConnell is the owner of McConnell Custom Construction in Jefferson and says last year, some lumber prices skyrocketed and created shortages. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio there was a shortage of green treated wood last year and when it was available, the price was three times the amount it was prior to the pandemic. Another lumber-related price increase was for plywood and other sheet wood that went from $10 per sheet up to $50, and has since come down to $20 per sheet. He talks about what the pandemic has caused for material shortages this year.

“Our big shortage issue this year seems to be like plastic goods, like electrical boxes, had some struggle getting vinyl siding of various kinds. Fortunately, we’re pretty scattered around with a lot of different work of different kinds so we try to work around those things pretty well.”   

McConnell gives a recent example of the situations he’s facing when it comes to doing various projects for his clients. 

“We’re currently on a project now that we were waiting on some siding for it. We got a big chunk of it in early on and then they didn’t have enough to complete the order. So we probably waited about three months. So now we’re back on that job finishing up that last little bit that hadn’t gotten done prior. If you run out of something, you got to just say, ‘Hey, I’m sorry we don’t have that product available.’ Then when it is available, come back and finish that job.”    

McConnell is thankful that his clients are understanding when they can’t finish a job due to material shortages, but trust they will once those items are available again.