Timber and steel are two of the biggest concerns, while other items such as plasterboard have seen sharp price increases.

RJ Lee Construction's Randall Lee said while his supplier has managed to remain afloat thus far, he was concerned with supply issues in the near future.

"Timber and frames would be the hardest materials to get at the moment," Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee said the construction boom after the release of the Federal government's HomeBuilder scheme has led to an oversaturation in demand.

"I think about 80% of my builds were probably due to the grants. They're all racing to get it before the grant is finished," he said.

"We've got work for the next two years. It might even stretch out longer than that, with the supply issue.

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"It's gone pretty much as soon as it hits the racks... and it's across the board."

However, Mr Lee said material issues were only part of the problem.

"Getting tradies, bricklayers, tilers, all that sort of stuff. Tradies are getting harder and harder to get. (The industry) is really struggling for brickies," he said.

"I think one of the problems is you're paying a lot more to get a house built now. Everything's gone up. Houses have gone up at least 10%. If you're building a $400,000 house that's $40,000 on top."

Horsham Mitre 10 owner Chris Jones said material prices increases were sudden and were affecting different materials at different times.

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"Price escalations are through the roof, especially anything steel-orientated... we've had three price increases on screws this year, where we generally only have one. Two increases on the cost of plasterboard as well, and the year's not out yet," he said.

"Initially we saw the untreated timber shortage impact, that's drying up and now it's moving on to the H2 treated and now we're seeing that H3 timber, which is generally used for exterior purposes, is drying up as well.

"From a steel perspective, we've just been quoted and the price has gone up fifty per cent since our last purchase, which was two months ago.

"So far builders have been pretty good, in that they've been able to restructure a few things and change jobs around. But in saying that, they're holding a lot more debt. If you have a fifty per cent price increase on materials, they've got to pass that onto the customer, as I've got to."

Mr Jones said the supply chain issues meant customers were often travelling greater distances to find materials, putting pressure on hardware stores.

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"We're seeing a huge flow of customers from outer areas, from places like Rainbow and Minyip because they can't go to their local store," he said. "Unfortunately that puts pressure on builders (in Horsham) who are our usual customers, so we're trying to manage that as well."

Mr Jones said some suppliers had even decided to temporarily leave the market, as they can't afford to import materials at competitive prices.

"They've just seen that the price would be too much to pass on to the consumer," he said.

"That will have a huge flow on effect, once suppliers start realising that if we don't start manufacturing in Australia its going to be really tough."

Mr Jones said reports of the situation easing mid-2022 might be overly optimistic.

"If you place an order now, it may not be supplied until April next year."

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