We are looking at 14 months from breaking ground to finish (are they ever really finished!) Build was suppose to take at least a year. We got in early in the pandemic, so have been luckier than most in having materials available for the most part. Now when we are in the finishing stages, there is a shortage of some supplies, plywood, and many other items. Lack of labor force is slowing us down, as well.

I wish I could define "reasonable" with regard to residential construction in these "peri-pandemic" times. What I can vouch for is that there are, indeed, significant supply logistics issues which are causing increases in both construction costs and extending construction schedules. Some markets are seeing labor shortages; it was recently reported that construction employment nationwide is only at 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Your builder needs to order everything well in advance of typical purchase order lead times and will likely be zigging and zagging from supplier to supplier in order to source materials. My best advice is to work with them and make your selections as early in the process as you can. Be prepared to be flexible when supply issues arise. And keep the big picture in mind: we've survived a world-wide pandemic and lived to tell about it. Yeah, it will take longer and cost more, but we're here to do it and enjoy it and hopefully tell our grandkids about it.

Two holes in the ground near me dug last winter. They are still holes.

9 months for a build from foundation to completion may be challenging depending on size.

We are now ordering a long list of items at this stage due to extended lead times (see July 2021 building..)

Finalizing appliances & interior doors now (6 mos, 3-4 mos leads).

Jeffrey Grenz - oh no! Not what I need to hear. Unfortunately it has taken 10 months to even get to the point where they’re going to break ground! I’m just trying to figure out why we lost so much time in the lead up….

We broke ground beginning of December 2020. Framing took such a long time due to lumber shortages and finally finished up in May. Our timeline is supposed to be a 12 month build, and as of right now we are still on schedule, however that can change in an instant due to supply issues.

A word of warning, from January to now pretty much everything that we have ordered has gone up 12-20% and lead times have gone from 3 weeks to 18 weeks. Examples: we are ordering our garage doors this week because they have an 18 week lead time. Also, our window guy came out last week and let us know how lucky we are we ordered when we did (February 2021) because Marvin windows have all gone up in price about 12% and their clad windows are 18-24 week lead times. That is unreal.
The vinyl shingles we wanted aren’t even being produced anymore.
We are shopping for appliances now for a shot at getting them by December, but I’m honestly checking scratch and dent places as much as possible because at least we can take them home with us right away and not have to wait 6-12 months.

It will take a long time and it will cost you significantly more than it would have 2 years ago.

We broke ground in late Aug of '20 on a full custom build that's around 5k s/f. Our forcasted schedule was 9 months. We received our use and occupancy certificate last week, so about 10 months. We lost 3 weeks waiting on spray foam that's manufactured in Texas when they had their deep freeze and we lost a couple weeks due to heavy local snowfall. Our builder told us from the beginning he was planning to order most things 4-8 weeks earlier than normal to keep ahead of the anticipated delays. Overall he was on the mark with most suppliers and we where able to hold our schedule. In talking with him know I'm hearing cabinets, garage doors, windows, and appliances are up to 16 weeks out.

I cannot believe how fast some builds happen! Ours took 13 months from hole in ground to move in during none covid times. If I include design and permit phase I add a whole other 16 months.

WestCoast Hopeful, are you saying if you include design and permits the entire project is around 29 months? 😳

We broke ground in mid December 2020 and our current anticipated completion date is September 17th, so right around 9 months. Our builder has really been on top of getting selections in early and placing orders well in advance, so we really haven’t had any delays due to materials. We did lose most of February to weather, and we are currently on hold due to a potential issue with the OSB used for our subfloor.

For reference, our home is a roughly 2200sf ranch on a full basement, about half of which is finished.

At this point the cause of past delay is moot as its all preconstruction tasks and you are now into construction. YOU can positively effect the schedule by handing your builder all decisions now.

As @Mark Bischak, Architect mentioned, lumber prices have softened. Material lead times have blown up this spring and we don't expect this to improve in 2021.

@pcxt Sept 17 is 66 days for completion.

KayKay Bee yes. We spent almost nine months designing the custom home and working on it with the designer and builder and making sure we were on the same page.

It then took another 7 months to get the permits approved and then we finally tore the old house down and began to build.

We wanted it to be well thought out and within budget. The only thing that took longer than we thought it would was permitting. We had been led to believe that would be more like eight weeks but be autocracy made it more.

Our builder said from day one from old house down to when we move in would be a year or so.

Appliance rep told me a SZ fridge ordered this week is targeted for delivery (by SZ) in mid-January.

Windows which usually took 4-6 weeks for delivery took us 12 weeks earlier this year.

We started October last year w demo and had planned Jan '22 completion but now looking more like March.

J H - I don't know how your builder was able to finish your home so quickly. Our is roughly the same size. Where are you located?

From the beginning we knew our build would take a year. Our builder is a firm believer in "sit and settle" between major building stages. He has built for us before, so we knew what to expect. This time, however, the house is going to take at least 14-15 months. Our builders trusted finisher was delayed on other jobs, and now we hear that he is not coming at all. Scrambling to find a reputable crew, which I think has been located. Well not a crew, but two men that trained under the original finisher. But they are two weeks out from starting.

Broke ground 7/20, finished late 5/21

Hello, I broke ground in March 2021 on a 4200 s/f custom build. I live in the South so we have had numerous delays due to weather. My builder was honest with me and I am expecting a 9 month build - maybe longer due to lack of crew as someone else mentioned in an earlier post. I have already ordered appliances, lighting, cabinets, etc.

We're looking at about 15 months from breaking ground to CO

Anyone who tells you they can start a brand new build today and are sure they can finish within a certain time frame right now is either delusional themselves or just trying to appease you. They can give you a WAG, based on past history. But what's that old market saying - past performance is not indicative of future results.

The entire world is still experiencing something we have never seen before (at least in modern history), and is still playing out. Supply shortages are still coming and going. Maybe this thing is finally winding down and getting under control, in which case great. Or maybe Delta takes off, or some other as yet mutated variant comes into play, in which case all bets are off.

Nice to hear the lumbar shortages may be easing up. Last I knew cabinetry was way behind but perhaps that can catch up too. However my spouse needs certain metals and chemicals for his job, and they can't get carp right now because apparently poor India is in the midst of a horrible time w/Covid. Metals and "chemicals" are needed to produce so many things, so if metal is becoming a problem we could be in for a heck of a ride.

We are such an interconnected world anymore, so when India, or China, or where ever gets hit hard, it plays out here in unexpected ways.

If I was building right now, I'd buy literally every tiny little thing I could in advance, right now. Today. Buy it all! And I'd also really stock up on alcohol. :)

In the 4th quarter of last year our builder estimated 16 months to completion. That included a pool, landscape and hardscape in addition to the house with attached and detached garages. Weather has not been good to us. There have been some delays in getting materials, but the bigger problem for the house itself is labor. So many tradesmen went out of business during and after 2008 that we have only a small fraction of what we need to handle the boom in construction in our area. We began before you and likely will finish about the same time, not including the pool and backyard work which has been delayed and may not be completed until mid-summer next year - if then.

One example of delays: the original cabinet company the builder wanted us to use said they had a six weeks lead time last December.; it more than doubled before they stopped taking new orders. The company we went with had a lead time of 8 - 10 weeks which grew to 14 weeks and ended up at 18 weeks. It would have been 22 weeks but I gave up on a some specialty items. I was told that one big problem is getting wood glues.

Tract home builders in our area are still completing houses in about nine months, using whatever they can get. I see lesser quality cabinets, counters, flooring, etc. than they installed two years ago. They have all canceled presales and are waiting until a house is finished to put it on the market. Typically, they get 25% - 40% more than the same plan and lot size sold for two years ago. In some cases, multiple bids drive the prices higher.

We chose not to wait, so we have only ourselves to blame. We're trying hard to be patient with everyone and express our appreciation for the good work being done under trying conditions. Most of what I've had to compromise on can be done over in a few years if we're bothered.

We moved into our custom build about a year after we started. The house is not finished, though. I have several lights backordered. My dishwasher is backordered. The bbq finally arrived today although the mini fridge and drawers have yet to ship. The final coat of paint can’t be scheduled until September. I still have some cabinets and mirror surrounds that aren‘t finished, and so much more. COVID delays are a real pain to deal with.

If we were more flexible on the items we chose, we could finish up quicker. My husband and I are pretty particular so we’d rather wait and get what we want.

We broke ground in May 2020. Forecast was for a 10-11mo build timeframe. We moved in 1mo ago on a temp CO. We are still waiting on some doors. Generator finally arrived and was installed last week. It was ordered over 6mo ago. For us the biggest hold ups have been tradesmen coming in to get their jobs done. In several instances they didn't have everything they needed to complete things on the days they came (missing faucets, vent fans for bathrooms, door handles, etc). Small things that put us on the list to have them back out again.

Think we will have everything wrapped up by the end of this month - so that would put total completion at 14-15mo

I am now at the 24 month mark for a custom home, and I mean custom. NOTHING on this project is standard, so everything was delayed for a whole host of reasons. My builder is responsive and professional, so I don't think he's the problem. The design has been challenging, as this is an architecturally unique home in a rural area. But here is an example of one delay: The hardwood floors have been delivered, but the builder wanted to have the radiant heat on before installing them for acclimation as well verifciation that the radiant was working correctly. But in order to get the radiant heat, we needed propane, and in order to get propane, we needed a propane tank. Well guess what- propane tanks are made of steel and there aren't a lot of them around. So it was a 3-4 week delay to get the propane tank installed and hooked up, (despite the fact that we had contracted with the propane company last year, but that's another saga.) So depending on your construction needs, even the basic utilities can be a problem. It's been a frustrating 2 years, and I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel...yet. Fortunately, this is a vacation home and not our primary residence, but I would like to have this buttoned up before summer. My point is: these are extraordinary times, nothing is working in any industry the way it did before the Pandemic. We need to lower our expectations, unfortunately and learn to practice patience.