As we head into the new year, we would like to share a letter written to all our homebuyers from McLean Quinn, EYA LLC President. This letter provides insight into the overall state of the homebuilding industry, specifically the impact of supply chain issues and labor shortages, and how the entire EYA team is working to address these challenges.
Dear new homebuyers,
This letter is the first in a series of communications that will provide general updates for all new buyers of homes built by development entities affiliated with EYA LLC (EYA). In addition, you’ll be receiving monthly updates on construction progress for your community.
Buying a new construction home is an exciting and unique journey. Building a house is complex and requires tremendous diversity of inputs and subcontractors. The pandemic and the surge in new home demand have created unprecedented supply chain challenges and labor shortages that are rippling through our industry and communities.
This challenge is impacting many aspects of our daily lives and it has certainly affected new home construction. The increased demand for new construction homes, the limited supply of materials, labor shortages, and global shipping gridlock are contributing to longer lead times and manufacturing delays for many of the critical inputs needed to build a home. For example, the same windows that used to require 4 weeks to deliver now take up to 18 weeks. Similar availability issues are also impacting many of the structural components in new homes, an impact that is reflected in the unprecedented volatility of lumber prices, which have fluctuated between three and five times the pre-pandemic prices. We recognize these supply chain issues not only impact our planning and delivery timelines but also yours as well.
Throughout our 30-year history, we have built over 7,000 homes and we are confident that because of the strength of our leadership, our financial capacity, relationships with our subcontractors, and construction experience, we can successfully manage this too. Our teams are showing their resilience and ingenuity by working to mitigate the impact of unpredictable delays and we want to keep you updated on some of the ways we are addressing these challenges.
Our procurement team is leveraging know-how and relationships built over EYA’s 30 years of experience to evolve our process. We are proactively engaging our subcontractors to identify problems and solutions before they materialize, and we have had to supplement or replace subcontractors when critical decisions were required. Across all our new communities, we have made significant financial and human capital investments to help address these issues including doubling our construction team over the course of the pandemic.
As new buyers, you may be asked to make product and options selections earlier in your home buying process, so that we can accommodate longer lead times and ensure you have everything you want (and need) to customize your new home. In some cases, options or specifications for your home may simply become unavailable. While we are working hard to minimize these scenarios, we will reach out to you immediately if new options must be selected or if substitutions are required.
While these logistical difficulties may test our collective patience, rest assured we are not sacrificing quality or care as we continue with our mission to create quality homes and vibrant neighborhoods that celebrate the urban lifestyle we call life within walking distance®.
We are working hard to minimize the impact of these challenges on each of you and look forward to delivering the keys to your new home; delivering your new home is our top corporate priority.
Thank you once again for purchasing an EYA home and for becoming a part of the EYA community. Your confidence in us means everything and we are eager to welcome you to your new neighborhood.
Sincerely,
McLean Quinn
President, EYA LLC
