Top Pandemic projects

Building a new deck or fence, upgrading a kitchen or backyard are the top projects during pandemic. Since a lot of people got stuck at home due to COVID-19 they decided to spend their vacation budgets on house upgrades to enjoy their home isolation.

But getting a material for all those projects could a bit of a problem. Plywood, lumber, screws, and many other material used for a building deck are difficult to get. The first reason is the industry has been overwhelmed with people doing projects for last 5 months. On another side is disruption in manufacturing, and suppliers like everything in a country were brought down to about 50 per cent efficiency.

Co-owner of The WoodSource in Manotick Mark Priddle commented to CBC.CA that usually his company has seen a 40 to 50 per cent increase year-over-year on home renovations, and a 200 per cent increase in the number of calls they've been receiving since the pandemic began. “Everyone who had a project hanging over their head for the last two years, they're like 'Well, I have time at home, I'm going to do it this year,'" said Priddle. "So that's where the demand has come from it seems”.

Because it’s difficult to identify what materials are in short supply and where, contractors need more creativity to get around with every project that summer.