8.19.2022 Construction workers say business is steady, but not for long By Riley Connell Cadillac News MCBAIN — Interest rates are on the rise, and the cost of building materials are not much better. Work is steady now, but local construction companies are preparing for a slowdown. The pandemic wreaked havoc on the real estate market, creating a buyer frenzy. But its impact on supply and demand has also made it difficult for those looking to build a home from the ground up. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to see pre-COVID pricing on lumber,” said Matt Hamacher, owner of Matt Hamacher Builder, LLC. Lumber costs have decreased with the calming of the pandemic, Hamacher said, but now that companies have seen what people are willing to pay, that number is not likely to drop. Most of his clientele have remained undeterred, but for the everyday person, he knows they’ll be thinking twice. “I did lose a big project during COVID, because they just decided to hold off on it,” he said. “So I don’t blame people for that.” On average, Hamacher builds one new home per year, and the rest of his time is dedicated to home additions, remodels or small construction projects. His yearly quota has already been met, and plans for another new build are under way, but Hamacher isn’t fooled by what seems like business picking up; he said the slowdown is on its way. “My phone has substantially slowed down,” he said. “I mean, substantially slowed down to what I normally would be receiving.” As winter approaches, Hamacher said there’s always a handful of people looking to expedite home repairs, but as far as large-scale projects, he doesn’t see those becoming high demand. Thanks to his most recent build job, which he anticipates will take around six months, Hamacher said he’s in the clear for now, but it’ll be tough for his colleagues. “We don’t know what to think of it,” he said. “All of us in our industry are kinda like, what’s gonna happen?” It’s not just lumber that’s faced inflation. Hamacher said the price of steel is killing construction workers, along with aluminum. He said the average cost of an aluminum soffit — a piece of metal that bridges the gap between the roof of a home and its siding — doubled over the course of three months. The result of high-cost materials is an overall spike in the per-square-footage cost to build. “I think pre-COVID, we could do something on the nicer end for like 175 bucks a square foot; $150 to $175 would be fair,” he said. “And now, I can’t hardly start anything for under $210, somewhere in that.” (excerpt from Cadillac News)