| If you have a construction project planned, you | | | | machinery using - you guessed it - gas and oil. So |
| may want to adjust your projections to include | | | | if you are ordering, for example, power tools or |
| the impact that will be felt from rising gasoline | | | | generators that run on gasoline, and those are |
| prices. As the price of motor fuel goes up, so | | | | made in a plant that uses gas to fuel its |
| does the price of goods and services that have | | | | machinery and then ships the heavy tools to you |
| to be transported to your job site, and that | | | | by truck, you are paying for gasoline several |
| translates into higher prices for construction. | | | | times over. It begins to add up a penny and a |
| Almost everything related to building projects runs | | | | dime at a time, and can soon send you over your |
| on gasoline. If it costs more this year to fly | | | | budget. Truckloads of concrete blocks, sheet |
| business passengers across the country in jets | | | | rock, lumber, and fencing - whatever materials |
| that run on gasoline, that also means it will cost | | | | you need to build your house, they are probably |
| more for you to have your construction workers | | | | coming to you thanks to gasoline-powered |
| drive back and forth to the construction site each | | | | transportation. And they may have built-in gas |
| day. Next time you pass one of these gigantic | | | | costs even before they are loaded on the truck. |
| dual-wheel extended cab pickup trucks with the | | | | If you have construction plans, don't' wait for |
| tool box mounted on the back, consider how | | | | prices to stabilize. You are better off breaking |
| many construction workers drive commute to | | | | ground now, while the potential spike in cost per |
| and from building sites in those big gas guzzlers. | | | | square foot is still a topic of armchair speculation. |
| Those workers have to pay for their gas, and if | | | | By the time gasoline hits four dollars a gallon, it will |
| they are getting hit hard in the wallet, they will | | | | be too late to reconsider your options. But plan |
| have no other reasonable option than to pass the | | | | ahead, and add another 25-30 percent to your |
| higher cost along to you, in the form of higher | | | | overall budget, to make sure that you leave |
| hourly wages. But not only labor costs more | | | | yourself a comfortable margin of error, in case |
| when gas prices spike. In fact, relative to the cost | | | | the costs you listed suddenly go higher. And try |
| of raw construction materials, labor costs are | | | | to lock in contract agreements for prices of labor |
| affected very little. The real impact on your | | | | and materials now, so that they can't fluctuate |
| budget will be felt when you go to the lumberyard | | | | with the price swings that might happen between |
| or home improvement store to buy supplies. | | | | now and your completion date. That way, if gas |
| Many of the supplies used to build homes have to | | | | prices stabilize, you will be way ahead of the |
| be shipped all the way across the country. And | | | | game and might end up with some surplus capital |
| many of those supplies are made in factories or | | | | to invest in upgrades or other amenities you didn't |
| manufacturing plants that operate heavy | | | | think you could afford. |