What's behind the soaring cost of construction materials?

Brexit, Covid, container shortages and competing global demands are just some of the reasons prices are rising

'It’s an unprecedented phase of disruption the industry has ever faced in terms of material supply and material cost increases.' File Picture

“Some contractors simply can’t stand over the prices they gave three months ago. They would go out of business if they tried to,” said Conor O’Connell, a Director of the Construction Federation Industry (CFI) Ireland in the Southern Region.

He’s talking about the rising material costs in construction projects across the entire industry, public, commercial and most importantly, residential.