2-Story Homes Abandoned in New North Texas Community Due to Lumber ‘Problems’ – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Lumber prices drive up the price of new homes, adding about $19,000 more to the cost of the home, according to the Dallas Builders Association. The price of wood is a problem. Getting it is another.

“Builders today need to work with the material they have, not the material they want,” said Phil Crone, executive director of the Dallas Builders Association.

A wood shortage recently derailed a Little Elm couple’s plans to buy their dream home.

Since moving to Little Elm four years ago, Mickey Wilson and Elina Morano have made their home a home. But it’s a house that they quickly outgrow.

“We have a baby on the way, due in September,” Wilson said.

“There’s really no room for a baby because we would like the baby to have their own room,” Morano said.

Working from home, the couple said they already felt cramped and wanted to buy a bigger house with one much needed feature: two floors.

After more than a year of house hunting, they said they had found the perfect place over two floors in a new development in Aubrey and said they had been added to a waiting list at the end of the year. last year.

“Hearing that was such a big weight lifted off my shoulder. It was like, ‘Yeah, finally. This is what we’re looking for. This is going to work,'” Wilson said.

They were expecting a phone call to choose their lot.

Instead, they received an email from the builder’s community sales manager, DR Horton, stating, “We are not going to move forward with two stories due to wood issues.”

“Defeated, you know, I definitely felt defeated. I felt a bit lost, like what do we do,” Wilson said.

Crone said builders are moving to simpler, more straightforward floor plans due to supply shortages.

He said this is the industry’s biggest challenge.

“We try to make sure everyone has a roof over their head and an affordable place to call home, but if you can’t find the wood and you can’t get it at an affordable price, it is unable to provide it at this time,” Crone said.

For now, Wilson and Morano plan to move their growing family into their current home as their seemingly endless search for a new dream home drags on.

“We’re just going to have to figure it out,” Wilson said.

It is not clear if the delay on two-story houses applies to one or more communities.

NBC 5 contacted the offices of DR Horton several times and could not get a response.

The company’s email to Wilson and Morano included an apology.

“Unfortunately, our head office has no idea when the timber issues will be resolved and it could take a year or more,” the email reads.