GLADEWATER, Texas — The housing market took a hit during the pandemic, especially building materials and labor supply.
Scott Hamilton, whose family built a beautiful home in Gladewater, said it did not happen easily. The home took 19 months to come together, about five months longer than it would under normal circumstances.
Hamilton said, “Bad weather really delayed that a bit. And then it was into COVID. And then it's into material shortages has been a challenge from kind of start to finish on the house.”
The past two years for the housing industry have been anything but normal and builders across the country are experiencing the exact same thing.
According to a May survey by the National Association of Home Builders, more than 90% of builders reported shortages of appliances, framing lumber and a type of engineered wood known as oriented strand board. Windows and doors were listed as well.
Hamilton could relate to all of these.
He said, “What a hassle, some of the door parts came in wrong. And we reordered and they came in wrong. And we reordered and they came in wrong.”
They reordered these parts 5 separate times. And they’re still waiting.
They’re also waiting for the market to return to normal.
Hamilton's daughter Mindy explained, “It’s such a bigger question of when does the supply chain open back up? When will ports have enough workers, enough truckers, enough manpower to get everything unloaded again?”
To make the most of their resources, some other homebuilders buy supplies in bulk, but the Hamilton group is a custom home company so they don’t have that option. Instead, they try to order supplies as far in advance as possible.
They’ve found a rhythm to make things work but still long for the day adjustments won’t be necessary.
The Hamiltons built two of the seven homes in this year’s Parade of Homes, tours for all of them will last through the weekend and then pick back up from the 12-14.