For the past 50 years, Scott Builders has been busy building communities throughout Canada.
Formed in 1971 and acquired by Ralph Ward in 1986, Ward led the company to exponential growth. With three branches – Red Deer, Calgary and Edmonton – the company is well positioned to provide province wide construction and has strong ties to local suppliers and sub-trades.
Look no further than your local building supply store and you will see what has happened with the cost of construction supplies. In the past year, everything from insulation, electrical, plumbing, drywall, wood, and steel had whopping price increases. Some lumber prices have more than doubled, stimulated by strong residential construction, low interest rates and COVID induced mill capacity limits. Hot rolled steel prices are at a 13 year high driven by supply shortages and an increase in steel demand. As COVID-19 vaccines roll out globally, economic optimism and corresponding investment has taken off. Metal building manufacturers are reporting deliveries extended out to the 15-20 week range and open web steel Joist fabricators are booked out to the fall! A strong US housing market is also affecting fiberglass supply – as fiberglass manufactures shift production to residential batt and blown-in insulation, metal building insulation laminators are experiencing fiberglass supply shortages.
Compositesworld.com indicated that North American glass fiber producers are struggling to keep up with consumption. With restricted travel and many working from home, increased sales of boats, RVs, swimming pools and hot tubs have increased the demand for continuous strand roving (Gun Rovings). The raw materials used to produce Gun Rovings are also used in the production of fiberglass insulation. Although fiberglass manufacturers have quickly ramped up production, they have been unable to keep ahead of demand (see graph above).
Well, we certainly live in interesting times! Just when COVID numbers were trending down along with hospitalizations, ICU patient numbers and the arrival of vaccines, a curve ball arrives in the new variants and numbers start to spike. In spite of the pathetic efforts of our federal government, Alberta is about 15% vaccinated and the arrival of new vaccines is supposed to spike. On the plus side, we are seeing positive numbers being forecast on economic growth. With the largesse of the federal government, Canadians have the highest level of savings in some time. Who thought paying 15- 17 year-olds living at home $10,000 in CERB was a good idea?
Happy New Year! I am sure many of us are relieved to see the end of 2020. The past year has been plagued by a pandemic with just under 2 million lives lost around the globe, social isolation, global trade disruptions, record fiscal and monetary stimulus programs, historic unemployment, economic collapse, and a tumultuous US election. Could it have been much worse? It is easy to get lost in the dismay; however, out of the doom and gloom, there is opportunity and hope. Never in history has the world united to tackle something so devastating that could threaten our very existence. To be able to research, develop, and distribute a vaccine in under one year is truly remarkable – a testament to what can be accomplished with global cooperation.
Well, that year is finally over! 2020 certainly was a different kind of year, as we all had to deal with the challenges of managing a global pandemic. It is interesting to note, that when a group of people bonded by a common cause, act together for the collective good, what seem like insurmountable odds can be overcome. While we are starting to see improvements and with the rollout of the vaccines, there are still hurdles that lie ahead.
Small, free-standing retail stores are probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of an engineered steel building solution. But Lewis Semashkewich of Melewka Structures & Design in Athabasca, Alberta thought the combination of the flexibility and quality of a Butler building, along with a design/build approach, would win the day for Great Canadian Oil Change/Valvoline. Two years ago, Lewis approached Great Canadian with an offer to adapt their wood-frame prototype to Butler systems. The result was a 1640 square foot structure with an MR-24 roof using the TLS insulation system. The roof had parapets and an internal gutter system. The walls were insulated metal panels (IMP).
