Yukon Lumber Yards and Builders Deal with Material Shortages and Sky-High Prices

The Yukon, a territory in northwest Canada, is wild, mountainous and has a very tiny population. Nevertheless, builders and suppliers in the Yukon are facing the same problems that the larger provinces in Canada are dealing with in regard to the price and availability of lumber, panels and other building materials. With some price increases double and triple where they were in early April. Rob Fordham, president of Kilrich Building Centres in Whitehorse, says this is unprecedented, at least in his career. Fordham points to the two colliding factors – lower mill production at mills in British Columbia and Alberta and sudden sky-high demand, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Kilrich store in Whitehorse has run out of OSB. “We’ve probably been out for 10 days and waiting for the sawmills to release product. It could be weeks before we see more.” Fordham reports the store is also out of deck screws and other fasteners and noted that 2x4s are getting harder and harder to source.