AUSTIN, Texas — It is never easy to build a home, but right now might be one of the hardest times due to supply chain issues and high costs across the board. That's because it takes a lot of different pieces to make a new home come together.
The COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues have caused people, including Kailynn and Andrew Cannata, to face a lot of problems getting their homes finished.
The Cannatas broke ground on their new Austin home in October 2020 and have faced challenges from the start.
“You know, teams would get sick, teams would be out,” Andrew Cannata said. “So, we didn't actually really poor foundation and get the foundation work started until about March.”
The Cannatas keep having to change their move-in date, with the big day getting pushed back further and further.
Their original move-in date was supposed to be in October 2021. That was then pushed back five months to March 2022, then again to May 2022. Now, they are finally set to move in this June.
The date changes have been especially difficult for the Cannatas, as they planned their growing family around this new home. They just had a baby girl about a week ago. By now, they thought they would have been completely settled into their new home, to start their next chapter with their new baby and their 3-year-old son.
“So, it's definitely been a challenge. But again, you know, there's not really anything to be done about it because [the] baby's going to come when she's going to come,” Kailynn Cannata said. “So, I think that's been one of the biggest pieces, you know, just being able to pivot around that.”
With their new home build, the first supply issue they faced was with lumber.
“There was that whole, like, shortage and kind of explosion of materials. Like, lumber materials,” Andrew Cannata said. “And that, unfortunately, happened right around the time that our framing started.”
With the supply chain issues even worse now, the Cannatas say it just seems like one delay after another trying to get their custom home put together.
“One piece of the material that I think took the longest was our metal roofing,” Andrew Cannata said. “It was about 90 days delayed from its original estimate time.”
Since they had to wait so long for the roof and couldn’t work on the house until they received it, the building crews started working on other projects – especially because many builders are facing staffing shortages.
“You know, when you schedule teams to come out, they go take other jobs while they're waiting for things to happen, which pushes your timeline even more so,” Andrew Cannata said.
Not only have these supply chain issues caused the Cannatas' timeline to be longer, but they have also caused the cost of the home to be much higher.
“I would say that our costs have gone up about 30%,” Andrew Cannata said.
So, what would their advice be for someone looking to build a home in Austin right now?
“If I could say, 'Don't do it now, like, right now in this moment,' I would,” Andrew Cannata said with a laugh. “But, no, honestly, it's just reset your expectations.”
Despite the delays in getting all the pieces together to build the house, the Cannatas are excited to start their new chapter with their new baby, in their new home, which will soon be completed.
Another piece of advice the Cannatas had for people who are building is to not sell your current home too quickly. They originally put their house on the market in September 2021 and are thankful they did not accept any offers because they would have had to figure out where to live until their new home was finished.
Family photos by Emily Cannata Photography.
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