Significant increases in material and labor expenses have pushed reconstruction costs in the state of California to an all-time high, according to recent research from Castle Data Services, a provider of residential replacement cost data based in Salt Lake City.
“The Central Valley will see the most significant increase,” said Glenn Polignano, Castle's data and information manager. “Some areas have seen building costs increase more than 15 percent in the last year.”
The results of a statewide review of building costs showed that, while demand for housing in California already had swollen the area's high inflation, other factors, such as the short supply of materials and labor, are driving costs up as well. One example of material cost increases is the price of plywood, a major component of residential construction. Castle cited a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure that plywood has experienced a 53 percent average nationwide boost over the last year.
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