Material shortages cause delays in school construction projects

Aug. 12—A new roof for Northwestern Elementary School will have to wait until at least October after the project was delayed due to a shortage of materials.

Originally slated for this summer, work has yet to begin as Hammond-based Korellis Roofing Inc. waits on backordered flashing materials.

Flashing, or weatherproofing, materials prevent water from getting into structures and are typically made of lead, aluminum and stainless steel.

The delay isn't expected to cause any long-term issues for the building, but it is indicative of how the pandemic has impacted and continues to impact the construction industry.

A disruption at any point in the supply chain can cause a ripple effect down the line, and the pandemic has caused a lot of them.

Lumber is a prime example. A price check at Lowe's or Home Depot shows lumber prices at near-historic highs.

Alan Krabbenhoft, director of the KEY Center for Innovation at Indiana University Kokomo, said there are shortages in production, from logging companies and lumber mills.

With less product, wholesalers charge more.

A construction company or home builder might put off a project because they can't get enough lumber, but they might also delay because cost of materials cuts too much into the profit margin.

Even when supply increases and/or prices drop, there's going to be a backlog of demand. Materials get bought up fast.

DELAY AND MORE DELAYS

Jeff Layden, director of operations, said Korellis has multiple projects they are working on. A delay in one project pushes back the rest.

The majority of work will take place in October during fall break. It's a routine project, expected to cost about $239,000.

Layden said construction will start after school on that Friday and continue through the weekend and the next week.

"I think the roofers said they would look at double shifts," Layden said.

When it looked like the project would begin before the start of school and bleed over into the start of the year — Northwestern students returned Tuesday — the plan was to have work take place after school and throughout the night to minimize disruptions during the school day.

However, there are residential properties near Northwestern Elementary. Overnight work requires lights and noise that could be disruptive to neighbors.

"It really came down to: They work after school hours or weekends, or you delay until the next break," Layden said.

Any work that is not completed over fall break will take place outside school hours.

LABOR, COVID ISSUES

Labor is also a factor in delays, though Krabbenhoft said it's not a work ethic issue.

Workers collecting unemployment might make more than what their job paid or what posted jobs pay. Krabbenhoft said that to understand this aspect, one must consider the other costs of working, such as gas to get to and from work, as well as childcare costs.

If a job doesn't pay enough, those additional expenses could make it a wash for workers.

And those are issues they won't have if they're on unemployment at home.

Krabbenhoft said that more people could return to work when benefits expire next month, but employers paying under $15 an hour could still have difficulties.

One of the biggest threats to the workforce is the rise of the Delta variant. An outbreak of the mutated virus could limit the number of workers.

"We're likely taking valuable workers out of the workforce if they contract this," Krabbenhoft said.

The variant runs the risk of setting back the entire economy at a time when it was beginning to turn the corner.

"The Delta variant is going to create a shock to the system," Krabbenhoft said. "If we don't get the Delta variant under control, we do run the risk of ... (not getting) our economy back on track."

WESTERN HIGH

Worker shortages and HVAC part delays have put the completion of a Western High School construction project behind.

Fixes related to a fire in late 2020 were expected to wrap up this summer, but Western Assistant Superintendent Mark DuBois said last month they would not be complete before the start of school.

The classrooms damaged by the fire are usable, though not finished, and Western is still waiting on parts for HVAC unit replacements.

DuBois said that it hasn't been easy to find basic materials either. Black floor tiles have a 10-week wait.

THE PERFECT STORM

The assistant superintendent said they have rented an air conditioning unit while they wait on HVAC parts. The unit was up and running when students returned Wednesday.

The construction company Western is using has had other projects and worked on them when they can. Worker shortages — and even dock strikes in Chicago, which have delayed shipments — have also impacted the timeline.

"It's been the perfect storm," DuBois said.

Mix in the typical supply chain snags with new problems related to the pandemic, and delays compound and drag on.

Take transportation, for example.

Many automotive manufacturers in Indiana rely on sheet steel produced in Gary.

Krabbenhoft said that lake effect snow can shut down roads, delaying deliveries of steel to factories.

If a manufacturer is a "just in time" facility, meaning it relies on materials to show up at a precise time to keep operations running, a delay can halt production altogether. Products in one facility get delayed, triggering a delay to every step of the supply chain from there on.

"In a just-in-time, everything has to work out precisely," Krabbenhoft said.

The ripple effect transportation has on production can be felt globally, too.

When the Ever Given, a large container ship, got stuck in the Suez Canal, it delayed deliveries across the globe by a couple weeks.

Krabbenhoft said that the ship, and the others waiting to pass through the canal, carry tens and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of products.

This is felt at docks, which operate like clockwork, he added.

Transporting those goods from the docks to their next location is then delayed and so on.

"That supply chain is so dependent on so many intricate factors," Krabbenhoft said. "All it takes is a very, very small disruption of the process, and it can cause a lot of significant problems."

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.