Paul Heyens thought he had seen it all.

The CEO of Alberta Glass Company has had a front-row seat on the rollercoaster ride of booms and busts that our province has gone through over the past 20-plus years.

And through it, his Calgary-based commercial glazing company for new construction and retrofit projects has thrived as it has worked on some of the most impactful projects along the downtown skyline, including The Bow, Eighth Avenue Place and Jamieson Tower.

“Yet we haven’t ever seen anything quite this dramatic as far as challenges and moving targets with both supply chain costs and skilled labour,” he says.

While the challenge of finding qualified workers is not new, it’s being compounded by soaring material costs. For example, in the last year, Heyens notes glass prices have increased by more than 50 per cent. Aluminum, meanwhile, has increased by more than 30 per cent.

“We need some predictability given that, typically for large commercial projects, you’re looking at a two-year time frame. You want to have some stability in your costs,” says Heyens, noting shipping times for materials such as glass have also often doubled.

“We’ve never seen a sustained increases like this. We’ve seen spikes in the past, but it’s generally eased up after a couple months. We’re not seeing that now.”

A report released last year by the Calgary Construction Association (CCA) and Edmonton Construction Association notes some commodity prices have jumped more than 500 per cent over a 12-month time frame. And the prediction is that, by May, they will likely only drop by nine to 26 per cent from the highs.

Keep reading on BusinessInCalgary.com