Rising construction costs lead to stealing supplies

The price of building materials has skyrocketed to the point that construction sites have become profitable targets for thieves. Now, builders are going the extra mile to protect houses.

There is currently a building boom. John and Sam Cieplak are trying to have a house built.

“Getting material is a nightmare,” said John.

They’ve been looking at construction from their front yard longer than they’d like.

“This has been sitting here for almost two weeks now,” Sam said.

They can’t finish their project simply because they can’t get the supplies they need.

John Buzzy works for Landmark by Gulfstream Homes. “The way families are looking to live here full time has been very incredible to see,” Buzzy said.

Landmark by Gulfstream Homes attributes the high demand, in part, to people moving to Florida.

“Right now, the issue in our market is curating materials just getting the materials needed to build houses,” Buzzy said.

The downfall to these booming businesses is that when people can’t get the material, they get it in inappropriate ways, particularly stealing.

“Certainly people want material, and they can’t get material, so they’ll do the things they shouldn’t do,” John said.

On Monday, in Golden Gate Estates crooks stole previously installed doors and tried to take windows out of the home. It was being built by Evermark Construction.

“Right now, there’s a lot of people doing what they have to do scratching, stealing,” Buzzy said.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised. Luckily, we haven’t experienced any theft right now; hopefully, we won’t,” said John.

Construction companies say they’re seeing the highest demand right now in lumber. Experts don’t expect demand to slow down or prices to drop very soon.