Is America really in a housing crisis?

If you work in construction, you already know something’s seriously wrong. Materials cost more. Projects take longer. Everyone’s scrambling to find good workers.

But the numbers tell a story that’s even worse than what you’re seeing on job sites.

The Housing Shortage Is Massive

America faces a shortage of 1.5 million homes according to the National Association of Home Builders. That’s not a small gap we can fix with a few new subdivisions.

Home prices reflect this reality. The median home price hit $418,284 in January 2025, up 4.0% from the previous year. For families trying to buy their first home, these numbers represent years of additional saving.

Construction Industry Faces Perfect Storm

Here’s where it gets interesting for construction folks. We need to build more homes, but we’re missing the people to build them.

The construction industry needs 439,000 additional workers in 2025 alone. That’s not counting the workers we’ll lose to retirement.

About 41% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031. If you’re under 40 and reading this, you’re about to become very valuable.

What This Means for Material Providers and Contractors

The math is simple. More demand for housing plus fewer workers equals higher wages and busier schedules.

Average hourly earnings for construction workers hit $38.30, higher than manufacturing workers who average $34.10. Good news if you’re looking for work. Challenging news if you’re bidding projects.

Material providers face their own pressures. Every delivery matters more when projects are already behind schedule. Every mistake costs more when labor is expensive and hard to find.

The Documentation Connection

When projects run tight schedules and high costs, documentation becomes critical. Proof of delivery disputes can derail timelines that construction teams can’t afford to lose.

Paper-based systems that worked when labor was cheap and schedules were flexible don’t cut it anymore. Coffee-stained delivery receipts and missing signatures create problems that ripple through entire project schedules.

Reality Check for Construction Professionals

We’re not in a temporary housing market dip. We’re in a structural shortage that will take years to resolve.

For construction workers, this means job security and rising wages. For contractors and material providers, it means operating in a market where efficiency and reliability matter more than ever.

The housing crisis is real. But for construction professionals who adapt to these new realities, it also represents the biggest opportunity in decades.

If you’d like help with your proof of delivery documentation, please reach out to us to see how we can help reduce costs, reduce risk, and improve processes.