re: GC’s and Electrical Contractors - Lack of Availability of Breakers above 200A

I’m on the supply side of this and I can tell you it’s a nightmare. The sad part is that the manufacturers caused all this when they cut back production and labor based on “market” project early on during the pandemic. They have never been able to catch up since due to that action and all of the raw material, component, and labor shortages coupled with logistical problems. What I’m hearing now is that labor is a big factor throughout the full scope of production, from end to end. From where I sit, which is at a high level, manufacturers are not willing to incur costs of running factories for extended periods past normal production hours to catch up on backlog because it would impact profitability. They have all increased prices dramatically as well so in the grand scheme of things they can produce less, reduce costs, and increase profits. Factor in this to that all have force majeure and aren’t taking any financial responsibility for missed dates. This has left distribution and contractors on island to pick up all the pieces. The guys at the factories in Mexico I talk to say they are fully staffed & have plenty of material on hand to build panels but they can only produce so much based on the amount of time they can run the plant. The other “excuses” are mainly coming from American middle and upper management.