A Pelham fire station which was supposed to be opened months ago remains under construction due to the impact of the nationwide supply chain shortage.
The project currently stands at 90 days behind schedule. Construction crews have struggled to get structural steel, appliances and even the engine for the station's generator. The fire station's plan also calls for a concrete storm shelter.
"We can't get the doors for it. We've been waiting about six months for the doors," said the City of Pelham's Public Works director Andres Bittas. The supply chain constraints has forced the city to evaluate how it handles future projects including a renovation of city hall which began last month.
"So right now we're looking at other projects and we're looking at sequencing of these construction," said Bittas, "We're trying to kind of work with the contractor and encourage them to kind of submit those to us early."
Contractors are feeling the strain too.
"It's fight for everything you can get," said electrician Robert Pilkerton Jr., "A lot of times we're ordering stuff before we even get contracts. Just we know something's coming and we take a chance and order a lot of material just to take that chance."
According to Bittas, Alabama state law requires contractors to lock in their prices during the bid process but predicting the cost of raw materials has become difficult at best. So contractors are having to build that uncertainty into their proposals.
"We've seen some bids higher because of uncertainty of the material costs and also delays in materials," he said, "We kind of delayed or prolonged the (city hall) project because the longer they stay on the job the more it's going to cost them to do it right?"
Still the uncertainty in the supply market and rise in costs has not slowed demand for those in the commercial construction industry like Pilkerton.
"A lot of people don't even ask prices they just want you to do the job whenever you can."