Hurricane Ian Exacerbates Strain on Construction Industry

By Cass Jacoby. 

We are only a few months out from the deadly hurricane that hit Florida earlier this year, but this storm is exacerbating already present issues within the industry.  

Supply chain issues, skyrocketing material prices, labor shortages and now... hurricane impacts. Roofing’s newest obstacle is the impact of Hurricane Ian creating demand for immediate relief materials to rebuild damaged homes and further stressing supply chain and material issues and labor shortages. 

According to Insider Engage, Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Cayo Costa, Florida, as a Category 4 storm on September 28, dropped 14.4 inches of rain and produced a storm surge of more than 12 feet in some areas. The storm made a second landfall near Caines, South Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane on September 30. 

"This storm has magnified everything,” Brittany Pregliaso with Classic Roofing and Construction tells ABC Action News. The current issues the industry faces are only going to be exacerbated with the impact of Hurricane Ian. The Jacksonville Business Journal reports that even before the storm, a double-digit surge in construction costs due to supply chain shortages and rising labor expenses had created challenges for many developers in South Florida. 

“Almost without exception we are experiencing unreliable timeframes in obtaining building materials, if you can get them at all, and labor is facing similar problems,” CEO of the Florida East Coast chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors Peter Dyga told the Journal.  

Further, putting the Sunshine state back together will require a huge number of laborers. Considering the pre-existing labor shortage in the industry, we can expect a delay to rebuilding, with the backlog of the repairs rippling out and impacting commercial projects across the country. Construction Dive reports that the hurricane will only increase demand for those workers now that Ian has created the need for more construction projects. 

Additionally, Hurricane Ian is likely to drive up the cost of critical materials across the south-eastern U.S., with inflation already affecting prices. 

“It’s a perfect storm with the lack of skilled labor, plus supply chain challenges getting the materials and the components to build a project,” Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast President Steve Cona tells BisNow. “This is something that we really haven't seen before.” 

Luckily, solutions like Stormseal exist. Stormseal is a temporary roofing alternative to tarps that heat shrinks to the home to protect it until repairs can be made. Stormseal can last for a year or longer and can keep properties watertight and protected from rain, wind, hail and future hurricanes, so you can deliver on keeping homes safe no matter what is happening with the construction industry. 

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About Cass  

Cass works as a reporter/writer for RoofersCoffeeShop, AskARoofer and MetalCoffeeShop. When she isn’t writing about roofs, she is putting her Master degree to work writing about movies and dancing with her plants.