Brad Bush, Senior Vice President, HUB International FL
Between March 2020 and March 2021, the cost of lumber increased by 250 percent. The cost of other building materials are soaring too and these materials are often scarce as well. Many construction projects are at risk of not being completed on time – or at all. Here in Florida, where the construction industry is booming, the pressure is growing. Some contractors will go to any length to get what they need, even stealing materials or equipment to help push their project along.
But the bad players aren’t the only thieves. In fact, equipment theft is a persistent and costly problem for the entire construction industry, which reports between 600 and 1,200 cases of equipment theft every year, costing an average of $400 million across the US.
What’s more, the issue is a lot bigger than simply the cost of replacing the stolen equipment. The indirect costs can be significant, stemming from job delays, penalties and downtime for operators, higher insurance premiums and sometimes even cancellation of an insurance policy. Some estimates suggest that the total cost of theft from residential construction sites can add one-to-two percent to the price of a new house. Read More.
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