b'BEHIND THE BUILD: CONSTRUCTION COSTSHOT TOPICS IN CONSTRUCTIONManitoba Building Conference & Expos expert panel shares their insights on construction Weve seen some issues in the condoSince COVID, the supply chain demand, material prices,sector, residential towers. We had aproject that [was on] the third or fourthhas started to stabilize, but I think floor, and it got shelvedthe projectthere might be a slight correction the supply chain and thewent insolvent. Weve seen other onesbased on people not factoring as where theyve dug the hole for themuch escalation or supply chain labour market project, and it got shelved. The hope isrisk into their prices. But I wouldnt that as interest rates start to come down,say that theres going to be a huge itll get that sector spurring again. Wevecorrection to the point where youre CONSTRUCTION DEMAND also had a couple projects that when thedrop 15-20 per cent.going to see construction costs government changedthey got put on hold for a while, understandably so So- Kelly Wallace, PCLback up again in the next year or so. We had significant increases were hoping that work is going to pick - Shawn Henry, Wescan during COVID. We had someWith [interest rates] increasing,projects that our B materialswhich would be our pipe, our weve seen private market slow.fittings, things like thatwent up Hopefully over the next few months,60 per cent and they just held. we can see some of those projectsWere not getting big rises in prices that were maybe on the bubble from aanymorethings are starting to financial perspective, come back on thelevel out in our books, but we do market. The one thing I would be a littlenot see them going down. But I doOne of the things that should beconcerned with is sometimes whenfeel were getting back to more driving some construction demand inyou get that interest rate drop, and allstandard inflationary increases in of a sudden projects start flooding thematerial, making it a little easier to the Housing Accelerator Fund. market, sometimes escalation starts topredict longer jobs out when were Winnipeg would be multi-family and- Darryl Harrison, WCA creep back in. So, I think therell be abudgeting for them.fine balance. - Kelly Wallace, PCL - Shawn Henry, Wescan22 BUILD MANITOBAwinnipegconstruction.ca'