I run a business flipping houses and remodeling rental properties. I was talking to the owner of the electrical supply house in our county yesterday and he told me they sold the last 200 amp meter base they had in stock the day before. They were probably one of the last stores in Tennessee that had any in stock. You can't build a house without one.
He also told me our power company has been removing transformers that are feeding barns or workshops. They don't have any spares to fix broken transformers in residential areas so they are stealing them from places that affect the fewest people. They haven't received any new transformers in several months.
The areas affected by the tornados last week are calling utility companies everywhere trying to find transformers and poles to repair the damage but there are very many spares left. He said if that storm had hit our county, he didn't think we would have the parts to get the power turned back on any time soon.
Crazy times ahead.
And materials in general. I build houses for a living. Windows earlier this year took 8-9 weeks. Almost three time longer than the previous year. Today...current windows we just ordered.....16 weeks. We’re having to go to a much higher priced window, it’s not better just higher priced, to get them back down to 8-9 weeks. Beam material 6 weeks out. It’s not getting better at all. New norm perhaps.
We need ppl with capital to invest in manufacturing companies that can produce our shortages!
Gotta get the raw materials from somewhere. To many regulations in place that prevent most plastics and resins from being made locally.