Homeowners To Feel The Pinch On Home Improvements With Increased Paint Costs

A Sherwin-Williams Paints storefront photographed on March 16, 2020 in Melville, New York.

While homeowners contended with the rising cost of lumber over the last year, they now have a new home improvement cost to deal with as they look to makeover their homes.

The cost of lumber has climbed 300% since April 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders, but the new pinch homeowners will feel in their pocketbooks is going to come from paint.

Sherwin-Williams (SHW) announced on Tuesday that it was increasing the price of its paint and other products by as much as 7%, starting in August, citing rising costs of raw materials.

According to Chairman, President, and CEO John G. Morikis, “demand remains strong” for its paint and other products, and it has “great confidence” that it will “offset these higher costs.”

The increase in commodity costs is an issue that has been plaguing many industries, from the swimming pool sector to the grocery market. Chlorine is not only in short supply but is also being priced at a premium as a chemical fire knocked out a key production plant, putting summer fun in jeopardy.

Paper products are also seeing price increases as Kimberly-Clark announced price hikes for products in its baby and child care, adult care, and Scott bathroom tissue lines in late June.

Toys have also been impacted by material costs as Hasbro said games and some toys will see increases, and beverage company Coca-Cola has said that it too will increase the price of some of its products going forward.

For the home improvement industry, the demand for residential painting as homeowners look to makeover new and existing homes has remained strong while industrial paint projects have also continued to recover at a steady clip, CNN reported.

Morikis said Tuesday, as Sherwin-Williams increased its Q2 sales guidance, that sales have been stronger than expected for the quarter. He continued by saying, “We now expect our full-year 2021 adjusted diluted net income per share to increase 13.6% at the midpoint of the range compared to the prior year.”

The company will release its full Q2 earnings report on July 27.

Sherwin-Williams was trading at $277.16 as of 12:50 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, down $3.84, or 1.37%.