LINDALE, Texas — As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens - but don't tell that to Raymond Plunkett. He's been waiting for the garage doors on his custom-built home for six months, and he's not alone.
It's happening to people across East Texas. The issue is a combination of crew and materials shortages.
Anwar Khalifa, president of Pyramid Homes, recently lost his sheetrock contractor because his crew left for better opportunities.
"I've been using the same guy for 10, 15 years...and I'm like, what, what's going on? He goes, 'I lost half my crew. They went to the oilfield,'" Khalifa said.
Lack of materials has completely changed the building process as well.
“Now we get (the customer) to make their first, second and third selections…our processes have changed so that we could accommodate either stuff running out, or not being able to get it - or to accommodate longer lead times,” Khalifa said. “There's some brick that we can't get yet. And again, that's another thing that you’ve got to give me your first, second and third choice.”
The Plunkett family knows that feeling first-hand.
"I think that brick that you see on our home is probably our fifth choice simply because nothing else was in stock," Plunkett said.
It has been a tough couple of years for builders and their customers, but the housing market is cyclical, and most people are waiting for it to get back to normal levels.
"With everything that we do, it's just goes back and forth, and it'll go back," Khalifa said.
Meanwhile, the Plunkett family is just happy to have a place to call home. Their old one burned down last year, so they are thankful, even without garage doors.
"You know, there's a lot of blood sweat and tears to get there. Because, you know, obviously got the previous home burned and everything else, you know," Plunkett said.
From a tragedy, to a new beginning.