The Obstacles

There are so many obstacles in your way to completing projects at the moment, some so left of field you wouldn’t believe it. Covid hit in early 2020 and created the perfect storm to slow down an industry. All of a sudden most major countries worked out that the building industry is the best one to invest in due to the massive work force. Off they went and introduced stimulus packages.

With everybody jumping on board products became like a tug of war. Who pays most wins of course and the USA desperate to stay afloat offered 5 times more. Where would you sell too, I’m pretty sure we all get the same answer. Then along came the container shortage and the incredible rises for them. I spoke to someone only yesterday who has always had containers from China. In 18 months, his cost has gone from $2,500 to $23,000. Someone has to cover that extra charge.

To go with that, the little brown mountain beetle in plague proportion in Canada has eaten an estimated 15 years worth of timber (approx. 9 million homes), much of which would have went to America leaving more for us elsewhere. It’s karma really because the beetles apparently went to Canada because big industries and climate change destroyed their normal habitat. We have our challenges ahead of us.

Rodney Tattam 19th March 2022