Cost Increases in Construction? Maybe Blame It On Amazon!

Amazon has increased its footprint from 97 million square feet at the end of 2016 to over 457 million square feet by the end of this year. This is an increase of 360 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space and in turn has created huge shortages and price increases in a number of the building material elements needed. Joists, girders, deck materials and more have pushed lead times for other builders to a 20-year high, according to Bisnow April 24, 2022. Our convenience in on-line shopping, and reportedly 60% of all of these are with Amazon, has led to construction companies inconvenience.  In addition, in many regions of the United States industrial land prices have skyrocketed. Here in the Bay Area it is not uncommon to hear of industrial land going for $100/square foot! Of couse, we ccan’t really blame this on Amazon. After all, it is consumers like you and me driving all of this!