Get ready to add what could be thousands of dollars onto the cost of that remodeling project if your materials aren't already secured.

At nearly $35 billion in insured property losses, the nation's costliest natural disaster -- Hurricane Katrina -- was bound to show up as a debit, sooner or later, in the check books of home owners.

Building market officials say Katrina and other Gulf Coast storms that earlier this year pumped up demand for building materials, disrupted delivery systems and raised fuel costs have begun to add 5 to 15 percent to building projects -- including home improvements.

"I'm hearing 5 to 15 percent. Framing materials first because that's one of the first things that needs to be supplied," said Gwen Biasi, spokeswoman for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) in Des Plaines, IL.

Studies show new home owners buy about $10,000 in initial improvements over the first 12 to 18 months of moving in. Such projects could grow in cost beyond $11,500 when higher interest rates are considered if the project is financed.

What's more, the estimated 15 percent as the greatest increase in building material costs thus far, may be just the beginning.

Not long after Hurricane Katrina left hundreds of thousands of destroyed and uninhabitable homes in its path the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) warned that the rebuilding effort would dwarf any other and be crippled by the immense demand, limited building and supply facilities, disrupted supply lines and displaced regional work force.

NAHB said from July 1992 to September 1992, largely as a consequence of Hurricane Andrew, the average price for plywood increased by more than 40 percent from about $222 per 1,000 square feet to $321, and the price of Southern pine framing lumber rose nearly 20 percent from $264 per 1,000 board feet to $308.

Before Katrina, a combination of greater (partly speculative) demand and disrupted supply produced a spike in lumber and panel prices in the final days of August 2005. With production already running at full capacity for wood panels, further increases for those products, as well as for roofing, were expected.

Biasi said home owners with remodeling contracts in hand and materials stockpiled may be saved the extra cost -- for now.

"I'm not sure it's happening in a job already bid, on a contract that's already out there, but it's going to cost more for future projects," she said.

She also said some contractors may initially absorb some of the increases provided they are part of a buying club or have material stockpiles, but those conditions would be spotty.

"It won't be the same from contractor to contractor," Biasi said.

Right now, lumber and other framing material prices are affected because those materials are needed first in most building projects. The demand and higher prices will likely spread to windows, siding, roofing materials and others as rebuilding the Gulf Coast proceeds, she also said.

Price increases are virtually assured in any petroleum-manufactured products, including vinyl siding, roof coatings, tar paper, asphalt shingles, and PVC. Most of the nations' PVC resin and additive material suppliers are located in the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast region says the Milwaukee NARI chapter.

David Pekel, Milwaukee/NARI marketing committee chairperson and owner of Wauwatosa-based Pekel Construction & Remodeling, Inc. advises homeowners who are planning projects to contact their contractor.

"If you plan in advance, your projects can be completed in a timely and cost-effective manner," Pekel says. "Homeowners will benefit from initiating projects sooner rather than later."

Unfortunately certain projects that expose the home to the elements can't be completed during the winter's inclement weather. By the spring of 2006 when the level of home improvements seasonally kick up construction dust, home owners could really begin to feel the pinch.

A Milwaukee/NARI survey of its members found four increases in some building materials already this year compared to a normal one or two increases for a full year.

The trade group is looking for increases in drywall, windows, roofing, siding, panel products, cabinetry as well as raw lumber.

"It's safe to say prices won't decrease. It's not only the demand and material costs, but increasing labor costs as well. Rising health insurance costs and other factors that go into running a business continues to escalate," Pekel said.

And then there's the gouging that opportunists conduct in times of short supplies and high demand.

Shop around by increasing the number of estimates obtained for a given job from three or four to six or seven licensed contractors to be sure to get the best possible deal.

Price isn't the only factor. Seek referrals from friends, family, co-workers and others you trust who also have recently completed a satisfactory home improvement.

Published: January 2, 2006

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.