JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) — Material shortages are becoming so severe across the globe, it’s now being called a ‘crisis’ in some countries.
The trickle-down effect is having an impact on local concrete businesses, like Nicholasville’s concrete company, “Central Kentucky Services – Kings of Concrete” or “CKS Kings of Concrete”.
Jason Woodward, the owner of CKS Kings of Concrete, said to start, the shortage has inflated the price of concrete recently.
“And in the last 6-7 months, it’s been pretty rough getting the material, and it’s actually almost doubled in price, almost $1300-$1400 a truckload and now it’s almost $2000-dollars,” Woodward said.
Woodward has been in the concrete business for 25 years and said he’s never experienced a cement shortage.
He said he has his suppliers he’s loyal to, but the shortage is forcing him to try new suppliers so he can meet deadlines.
“I call around, to get what I can get,” Woodward said. “They tell me it’s going to be the 16th of next month, oh like next week, like Friday of next week at this time is usually how it works.”
Despite delays and the setbacks it’s causing, Woodward is making sure his workers are taken care of.
“Well they still get paid, whether I get paid or not, it impacts the income that I have, and the profit that I make,” Woodward said.
Woodward said once a bid is locked in, that is the deal. However, supply chain issues are driving up the costs for cement, and Woodward said he has to sometimes eat the costs when clients won’t work with a new bid.
“They’ll say, ‘No, we signed the contract for this and I understand that,” Woodward said.
Sometimes, the shortage and delays have canceled jobs even before they’ve started and Woodward said while most clients are willing to work with him, he’s returned about five-to-six deposits so far this year.
The shortage has also mixed up scheduling for CSK Kings of Concrete.
“It’s terrible,” Woodward said. “I mean it is when you’ve got an invoice full of jobs to go to, and you try to go start these 3 jobs this week, and then they tell you can’t get concrete those two weeks for this job, and you’re already behind, trying to tell these people you’ll be done in six weeks, and you can’t make the deadlines to get there.”
Woodward is balancing 40-50 jobs currently and said he prefers to complete one job at a time, the shortage has changed the game.
“It’s been me having to jump, you know like to prep another job, and I’m waiting on concrete to finish that job. I like to go do a job and complete it and go do the next one, but it hasn’t been like that here lately. I’ve just been jumping job to job trying to make everybody happy, and at the same time trying to schedule my concrete in and make it all fall in place,” Woodward said.
Locals have called CKS Kings of Concrete one, if not the biggest concrete company in Jessamine County, and they’re advising if you’re looking to start a project, expect at least a six to eight-week lead time.
To reach out to CKS Kings of Concrete, click here: (20) Jason Woodward | Facebook