The COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on the green industry in 2020 and its effects are continuing into 2021. The North Carolina Nursery and Landscape Association says operations across the state were deemed essential businesses that could remain open with safety protocols in place. Most businesses saw a spike in sales from homeowners wanting to improve their outdoor spaces and construction firms still needing commercial landscaping.
The uptick in demand for plants, and the supplies needed to produce them, has affected the 2021 supply chain. Green industry businesses have begun to see delays in the materials they need to sustain orders and production.
Delays in hard goods are already an issue, according to Tony Evans of supply wholesaler Wyatt Quarles. The turnaround for supplies like nursery containers is usually two to three weeks, but now orders are projected to arrive in three months because manufacturers are behind on production.
“In some cases, the products are just floating offshore on a container ship,” Evans says. “Someone on the ship has COVID-19 and needs to quarantine, so it’s delayed.”
Manufacturers who enacted safety protocols for their employees have had fewer people working, which has reduced productivity and resulted in fewer goods.
Evans has also seen delays because of freight carriers. Many truckers are taking more lucrative contracts to haul water and supplies to storm-ravaged areas rather than keeping their usual contracts to wholesalers.
Vendors used by Dana Massey of Plantworks Nursery have canceled or shorted supply orders. Some manufacturers offer substitutions, but not having the code for a new item in their system presents another problem.
“One of the hardest things for us is to know our customer’s needs for large quantities of things, such as annual color, a season in advance to plan accordingly,” Massey says. “The increased demand with lower supply will continue to cause these hardships until the supply can catch up.”
Increasing Costs
With delays and decreasing supply come increased prices. Evans has seen plastics increase by 10% and greenhouse film up 28% from last year. He warns that buyers should factor in higher prices because costs could increase in the months between when an order is placed and when it is received. Most suppliers will not guarantee prices past 90 days, but the product won’t be available until after then, so the price could change by the time it is ready for delivery.
Jeff Allegood of Old Courthouse Nursery is seeing gaps in their plant production because of increased demand, even though they have kept production at the same level or higher than normal.
“The ripple effects of getting behind on production will be felt throughout the rest of the year and beyond,” Allegood says. “We are already taking orders from existing and new customers for as far out as Spring 2022.”
He added that factories can simply increase the number of workers or time worked to catch up after delays, but plants grow at their own speed and can only increase in size over time.
Leslie Herndon of Greenscape, Inc. says she doesn’t see this increased need stopping until at least 2022 based on her current projects. The available inventory of both current and newly constructed homes is about three months, so many people are buying whatever is available right now, so they need landscaping immediately.
“Commercial construction is not slowing down. We are booked out for months and months,” Herndon says. “We’re worried about getting materials and what the price increase will be.”
Delays and shortages can be problematic for landscapers working on commercial projects developed by landscape architects. During the submittal process, landscapers can run into issues if a plant or material they submit to the architect is not available when it is approved several weeks later.
Shortages, delays and higher prices are going to affect businesses across the industry and there is not one solution to the problem, but there are ways you can manage and plan ahead. Click here for some great advice.