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Starksboro timber‑frame maker says tariffs on Canadian lumber will raise housing costs
Summary
Kevin Moyer, owner of Vermont Frames and Foam Laminates, told lawmakers imported Douglas fir and other Canadian lumber now carry higher costs that will flow into construction prices and worsen Vermont’s housing affordability problems.
Kevin Moyer, owner of Vermont Frames and Foam Laminates of Vermont in Starksboro, told a joint legislative hearing on April 9 that tariffs on Canadian timber and related inputs are raising his raw‑material costs and will push up the price of the company’s timber frames and structural insulated panels.
Moyer said roughly one‑third of the timber his company uses — notably Douglas fir — is sourced from Canada. “That just got a lot more expensive for us,” he said. He added that panel cores and oriented strand boards for his insulated panels are sourced from U.S. mills, but some chemical precursors and resins “do, I think, come from overseas,” and he expects vendors to pass along higher input prices to manufacturers.
Moyer warned that higher material costs will be passed through to customers in a market already strained by housing shortages. “Raw materials are one of the biggest factors into how we have to price our barns, the homes we build,” he said, and those higher prices may make homebuilding less affordable. He also emphasized the long‑lead nature of construction contracts: some projects are bid 6–12 months in advance and the company may already be committed to fixed prices for work that will absorb tariff‑driven cost increases.
Moyer suggested state policy options to help preserve housing production. He said ideas such as tax‑increment financing (TIF) to help fund local infrastructure and targeted incentives to shift developer spreadsheets could align private economics with public housing goals. He also urged lawmakers to “keep things as steady as possible” at the state level while federal trade uncertainty persists.
A committee member pointed Moyer to the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development web guidance and a potential self‑certification path if products are more than 50% North American content; Moyer welcomed any resources that help firms identify exemptions or alternatives.
Moyer invited lawmakers to visit his Starksboro facility and highlighted the energy‑saving benefits of structural insulated panels for lowering household heating bills.
This testimony followed other manufacturing testimony at the session about tariff impacts on supply chains and small businesses across Vermont.
