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Construction company desperate to find stolen materials amid supply chain issues

Posted at 5:55 PM, Dec 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-30 19:55:01-05

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — A Utah construction company is reeling after thieves stole ten thousand dollars of materials from their job sites. But it’s not the financial loss that’s a concern.

“The problem isn’t that we didn’t have insurance on the product, the problem is I probably won’t be able to replace this material for another 30-40 weeks,” said Robert Brady, who owns and operates Copper Canyon Roofing.

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Brady is feeling stressed and frustrated after thieves hit his construction site in West Valley City for the third time. The job site is located near 3500 South and Mountain View Corridor.

“They were breaking through a fence and coming in a truck or trailer and loading materials in their trailer, stealing them in the night,” Brady said.

About a week and a half ago, surveillance video captured these thieves coming in the middle of the night to load up commercial flat roof membrane or TPO materials, getting away with around $10,000 worth.

We met Brady at one of the job sites that’s been hit, where they just started on a new townhome development.

Brady says they had ordered all the materials for this project ahead of time to make sure they had enough to last, something they wouldn't have done in the past.

“That’s why we had so much material here,” said Brady. “We had it for all 14 buildings that were gonna go in this project.”

And getting supplies has been a challenge this past year.

“A year ago, you used to be able to order material or buy it, that day or have it delivered the following day,” Brady said.

Now he says a lot of roofing materials are taking anywhere from 30 to 40 weeks to arrive.

And the material shortage is across the board.

“We know a lot of companies that just don’t have material right now,” Brady said. “And they've had to let guys go because there’s not enough work or material to work on projects.”

He says another challenge is finding enough workers which has been a problem for two years.

READ: More Utah restaurants shorten hours due to extreme worker shortage

If you have any information about these thefts, give West Valley City Police at 801-840-4000.