Construction prices increase along with gas
19.05.12
Pain at the gas pump continues, and those high prices are affecting products beyond gasoline.
The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Albany is $3.70 today.
That's 25 cents higher than a month ago. Oil prices are above 100-dollars a barrel. High oil prices often mean an increase in construction costs and other areas.
The cost of materials to build a new home today are up more than five percent from just a year ago and commercial construction isn't much better.
Darton College's new bookstore is under construction right now. If that same building had been built a year ago, the construction costs may have been nearly 5 percent cheaper than what they are today.
The cost of many construction materials are up because they're petroleum based.
"Asphalt, shingles, asphalt paving, PVC pipe that kind of thing it has gone up. Some of your drywall costs," said Ben Barrow, LRA Construction President.
As fuel prices continue to climb so will those cost of those construction materials, but the industry has tried to make up for some of it.
Source: WALB-TV