Experts discuss why the price of building materials is decreasing

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As Central Arkansas continues its cleanup efforts from the March tornadoes, the next step for recovery is rebuilding.

Businesses like Fuller and Son Hardware are working to keep their shelves stocked with building materials.

"One of the first things we stocked up on was like roofing nails," Fuller and Son Hardware co-owner Jeff Fuller said. "Tarps the first week were insane."

Fuller and Son Hardware sells lumber, a material construction crews, like Construction Arts Incorporated, need to help Arkansans rebuild.

"We have five or six storm damage homes that we're looking to work on," Construction Arts Incorporated owner Scott McGibbony said.

According to McGibbony, they can get through neighborhoods quicker, making it easier to assess the damage and what needs to be done to rebuild homes.

"There's a lot of investigative work that has to be done on these homes to see that you catch everything that needs to be done," McGibbony said.

A lot of lumber will be needed to rebuild, and over the last few years, prices have skyrocketed with minimal availability due to high demand.

"That was the deal in 2020," Fuller said. "You were paying triple the price on something and sadly happy to get it when you could."

McGibbony said construction businesses saw the impacts firsthand.

"It was so inflated over the last few years," McGibbony said. "It was hard to build a spec house and do many things because the pricing was so high."

Luckily, that's no longer the case.

"Lumber prices were high," McGibbony said. "Now they're back as they should be and more typical for this time of year."

McGibbony said these prices, combined with a slowdown for new construction, will help everything get back together."It's going to help them rebuild their homes at a more moderate price or price that should be," McGibbony said.