The Price of Lumber

[SoddenJack]

II stopped at Lowe’s the other day for a few items. I couldn’t believe the cost of lumber. Nearly $10 for and 8’ 2x4, and $15 for an 8’ 2x6. I’ve heard on news about the increased cost of building supplies, but it’s a different seeing and feeling the sticker shock in person. Thankfully I don’t have any major building/home improvement projects in the near future.

 

[dcon]

I have been doing some remodeling during my vacation. Both lumber and electrical supplies have been scarce. Lumber is as much as 4X what I paid last fall.

 

[LongHairDontCare]

I went to pick up a few sheets of plywood a few weeks ago and just about made a mess in my britches. 1/2” CDX was $55 a sheet. That is absolutely ridiculous

 

[fireground_piper]

Yep, I picked up a handful of 2x4 a few weeks ago doing some renovation to the bathroom and thought the sign was on the wrong bin. It's about a 100% increase since when I bought some a year or so ago, maybe a bit more.

My tile went up almost $2 per square foot from when I purchased my first half and then the second half a few days later.

 

[alaskanpiper]

OSB sheeting here is $70 a sheet. Currently building a house. Everything else is on budget, lumber materials are currently 19K over budget.

 

[fireground_piper]

I couldn't imagine building a house right now. Just renovating my bathroom irritated me with the prices.

 

[SoddenJack]

I’ve heard sheets of Plexi are going for ~$30 sq ft. Can’t say I’m totally surprised at that one. Pretty much everywhere you go has those plexiglass partitions are around the registers and desks.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I needed to replace a deck board for the house I was selling last year. There was one at the Home Depot, but it was not convenient to haul. While I was at this one I called the one more near me. That other one was completely out. So, this isn’t a recent phenomenon .

 

[BarrelProof]

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

View attachment 79604

Your truck bed is too short. Just kidding,

 

[lukasstrifeson]

There was some tangential talk in the crypto thread re: the U$D inflation. While I think that's definitely a factor here, it could be much simpler than that: a lot of people spent a lot of time at home recently, probably noticed that they could use a lot of work...

 

[SoddenJack]

I needed to replace a deck board for the house I was selling last year. There was one at the Home Depot, but it was not convenient to haul. While I was at this one I called the one more near me. That other one was completely out. So, this isn’t a recent phenomenon .

Lack of supply hasn’t really been an issue near me. Even at the height of Corona I could walk into any hardware store and get what I needed thankfully. This is the first time I noticed the cost increase, though it’s probably been a few months since I’ve needed to purchase any lumber .

 

[Old School 3319]

We signed a contract with a guy to install a privacy fence last fall. He is pissed caused we locked our price in and paid a substantial amount down. He says the price of lumber has almost doubled and is having trouble getting the panels. Not my problem I paid for the job back in the fall

 

[sablebrush52]

From what I've been reading, the cost of wood has been escalating at the mill level. Logs are cheap. Demand plummeted during the 2008 financial collapse resulting in some mills closing. Demand remained lower, so milling output remained reduced. Demand has been increasing since last year and remaining mills can't keep up with demand. They're reluctant to invest in expensive equipment for fear that the demand will suddenly decrease, leaving them vulnerable. So you have reduced capacity and an opportunity to exploit that at the milling level. Bend over and enjoy it.

 

[mikethompson]

Does that mean there is no such thing as scrap wood anymore?

I'm glad I've saved end pieces over the years. Maybe I will sell them and buy some aged McClelland.

 

[mso489]

The happy scenario would be if the house repair boom flattened as the pandemic fades and the building materials corrected to lower prices, but I can see that taking a long long time, or not happening. There could be another rise in demand with all the shopping malls and store fronts and office space being renovated as residences. Right now in the Southeast U.S. we're awaiting the return of gasoline with the pipeline ransom hacking. The shortage is supposed to be relieved later this week, or that's the happy talk.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I couldn't imagine building a house right now. Just renovating my bathroom irritated me with the prices.

Fortunately for us, the majority of our materials, as well as contractor pricing, was purchased back in 2020 when we signed the contract. If we get out of it only 17K over, that will be a small victory, as most homes that started building in 2020 are averaging 36K over right now.

It's not great, but what are we going to do? Stop building the house? With mortgage interest rates as low as they are right now, and real estate in such a remarkably sellers market, we will more than make up for the overages with the sale of our old home and the rock bottom interest rate on our new mortgage.

 

[alaskanpiper]

 

[mikethompson]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but -

I'm looking to move on from this 8ft pine 2x4. I've had it for about a year, and have never used it. It is time for it to go to its next caretaker. Looking to trade for a few pallets of Christmas Cheer. My loss is your gain. No shipping.

 

[STP]

It’s insane. I just upped my home owners coverage due to the high cost building materials.