Pandemic's Affect on High-Performance Building Materials

Though the price of dimensional lumber has started to decrease to pre-pandemic levels we are still dealing with exceptionally high pricing of key materials used in high-performance building applications. Based on an analysis of our material costs from mid 2019 to early 2023 we have noted the following changes:

• Cellulose insulation - main insulating material for our Larson truss wall system - price increase of 4.8%
• Sheet metal roofing - resilient exterior finishing material used exclusively by SCBC for all new builds and deep energy retrofits - price increase of 47%
• 3/8" plywood - used in the manufacturing of our MLT wall system as structural gussets and our AVB layer - price increase of 58%

Given the pandemic's affect on materials commonly used in high-performance building projects there is an even greater need for Governments to implement meaningful incentive programs to help building owners offset the cost of reducing GHG emissions and increasing energy efficiency.