More builders going broke - as they always have in this kind of situation --
how about this for a solution - similar to the building insurances present. How about making it mandatory for every builder to have a policy - I guess call it insurance - which is specific to abnormal supply costs.
The insurance is run by the age old method invented by the Japanese -- 'futures'
So, companies use the futures market to guarantee payments or supply of lumber, metals and the like - when runaway costs happen - the builders apply for payments out of their policy - so, if normal lumber prices go up 5% a year - but, all of a sudden, they jump 70% a year - the builder is paid out -
problem solved
"Australian Constructors Association chief executive Jon Davies said in a 12-month period contractors had seen price increases of up to 70 per cent, but they were required to lock in prices long in advance."
""Why should anyone pay less for something than the actual cost if this has happened through no fault of the contractor other than not having an accurate enough crystal ball?" he said."
"In 1730, Japanese merchants petitioned shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune to officially authorize trade in rice futures at the Dojima Exchange, the world's first organized (but unsanctioned) futures market. For many years, the Japanese government had prohibited the trade of futures bills because it was widely regarded as a form of gambling that caused rice prices to rise. However, when the price of rice fell to record lows in the late 1720s, the samurai (whose income was tied to the value of rice) saw their economic position fall relative to the merchant class, whose growing economic power worried the nation's elites. The shogun responded by easing restrictions on futures trading, but without officially sanctioning a futures market at Dojima. The question now was whether he should heed the merchants' petition and take the next step."
