I am doing research on the Home Building industry and am trying to figure a few things. Would welcome responses from anyone familiar with
the area.
1) Are the large production builders (like Pulte, Centex and Hovananian) actively moving to larger organized framing operations like stock building supply, building material holding corporation (SelectBuild) for their framing needs?2) Now that housing is slowing, and builders are facing pressure on their margins, they are trying to push this margin pressure down the supply chain. Is this pressure sticking, i.e., are their suppliers (including framers) offering the builders significant discounts, which would reduce their own, i.e. supplier's, margins. As an alternative, in order to maintain their own margins, the suppliers could offer cheaper solutions to help the builders cut their cost of building. However, this solution may not be acceptable to the builders. Would love to know the perspective of some of the suppliers dealing with the big builders?
3) Is construction labor still in short supply?4) How much of a residential construction slowdown is happening?