Pedro Ocana says he’s lost three customers, at least temporarily, as the supply chain disruptions, project timelines and price increases have impacted his custom-home building business in Calgary.

The president of Sunset Homes says those customers are waiting until the uncertainty and unpredictability affecting many aspects of the construction industry subside.

“They want certainty of the cost,” Ocana said inside a two-storey home that is nearing completion in southwest Calgary.  

“We’re not sure at this point if the cost of the construction is going to be $1 million or $1.5 million. So it is a big gap in the actual cost.”

Uncertainty appears to be the new normal in the construction sector as companies scramble to find workers, products and materials in the face of a global supply chain crisis that has disrupted the flow of goods needed to finish homes and other projects. In turn, builders and their customers try to absorb the seemingly never-ending price increases.

All of this is happening at a time when some Calgary homebuilders and suppliers are the busiest they’ve been in years.

Ocana says that in the face of multiple price increases and product shortages, he helps his clients find lower priced materials to keep their budget on track — but failing that, some have opted to hit pause.

“So we have the two spectrums, either continue trying to make it more cost effective, or pretty much stop the whole project and wait a year or two,” he said. 

Fifteen of his other projects are still going ahead, and he’s made adjustments to how he orders materials, extending the orders by as much as six or seven months to lock in pricing and availability.

Ocana and his company are not alone.

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