Dealing With the 2021 Paint Shortages

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a surge in demand for home improvement projects. A main necessity for these projects is paint. Paint shortages have been on the rise over the last year. It’s becoming more difficult to find paint for customers who want to do the projects themselves, along with companies like Sound Painting Solutions. Ongoing global supply chain problems and a deep freeze in Texas earlier in the year have created rising costs and paint shortages. 

Supply Shortage

According to this article from Forbes, by late 2020, a shortage of shipping containers emerged, along with a spike in shipping rates causing U.S. importers to experience delays in receiving important manufacturing components. A factor affecting the painting industry specifically was unseasonably freezing temperatures in Texas which slowed the production of petroleum, a key ingredient for paint. A combination of these factors has created paint shortages, and companies across the country are dealing with this problem. 

This article from CNBC states the producer prices for painting and coating manufacturing rose 10.6% in August from one year ago, which was the largest annual increase since January 2009. In addition, sales at paint and wallpaper stores rose 7.8% annually. The figure below shows the paint and coating producer percent change in price from prior years.

Effect on our Business

Our owner Jeff Dupont notices supply shortages of all types of paint used in projects. If a product shortage affects a job, we are communicating with customers that we can generally get the color they want. However, the product type and sheen may vary depending on availability. Sound Painting Solutions specifies in our client contracts that the products for the project may not be available at the job start time. If that happens, we do our best to replace the specified material with a like product of similar quality. Any changes do not increase the quoted price of the job. We encourage customers to give us the colors a few weeks in advance of the job start date if they want us to supply the paint. Overall, we are not having problems completing projects due to this supply shortage. If you are interested in any of our services, please fill out a free quote. Thanks for reading!

Sources:

Cox, Jeff. “Paint Is Getting Costlier and Harder to Find, and This Could Be Just the Beginning.” CNBC, CNBC, 10 Sept. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/10/paint-is-getting-costlier-and-harder-to-find-and-this-could-just-be-the-beginning.html.

Friesen, Garth. “No End In Sight For The COVID-Led Global Supply Chain Disruption.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 Sept. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/garthfriesen/2021/09/03/no-end-in-sight-for-the-covid-led-global-supply-chain-disruption/?sh=3aa7a6d13491.