Y'all Been Checkin' Lumber Prices?

[ruffdog]

The woman driving that Honda was not hurt and the PU driver that lost the wood was ticketed. The story:

Piece of plywood slices car's windshield, narrowly misses driver

 

[sallyb]

In a month common 2x4(actually 92-5/8) stud went from 1.97 to 7 a stud. 4x8 x7/16 was 15 now 54. Not kidding lumber prices I’ve no seen and I am 69 years old.

 

[lman]

Sounds like price gouging.

 

[PILOON]

Price of lumber is so high that the local prefab people are actually buying back the contracts.
The prefab industry has traditionally booked projects a year in advance and simply can't produce for the contracted prices.
I've heard from reliable sources of them buying back the contracts for about $25K, cutting their losses I guess.

Then many folks have sold as it is a real bidding war out there.
Most homes going 20-30% above asking.
But then they have to store their goods 'til they can find or build a new home.

OK, that's good for the storage industry as the few I know have pages of clients on the waiting list.
One answer was to purchase sea containers but then they have skyrocketed in price as well.
What sold for $1-2K last year is now over $4K., and trashy at that.

Couple years ago I was on the west coast and saw dozens of ships being loaded with prime timber to be shipped overseas. Japan I'd suspect was the destination. I'd guess mostly BC fir.

 

[mred2]

A friend said she sold a house the other day for $50,000 over the asking price. Put it on the market and had 7 people try to buy it. They started bidding on it.
Said the bank had two houses over 1/2 million that were being built and is over 1/2 finished. The owners can not get any additional money, the contractor is being held up and the bank can not get paid. Not sure what will happen. He said that he was told that both houses would now be $100,000 over budget.

 

[plastikosmd]

I have an old pto sawmill awaiting some paint and rehab

looks like a good time to post it as is

 

[goeduck]

Yeah I mean, we can pretend that the increased efficiency of new home construction techniques makes it acceptable for 4 people to share 19k sq ft, but the world is literally burning and this house will consume a huge amount of energy, just no way around that. In Wisconsin winters no less. Sure, the wood framing can be replaced by new trees, but they were cut, transported, milled/kiln'ed, transported again, all powered by fossil fuels. And I agree about cement - that foundation is crazy massive.

Anyway I know not everyone agrees with me, so I'll shut up now. Just wish our country would stop celebrating personal consumption like its the end-all be-all of success. Again, I'm not hating wealth, but this is just wasteful and obnoxious behavoir that is unsustainable for human habitation of the earth.

All things are relative. I bet there are those who think you live an extravagent lifestyle.

 

[goeduck]

I am surprised more builders do not use steel studs. They are in our area priced less than wood. Are more uniform than wood.

My house and shop were built with steel studs in 1988.

 

[goeduck]

These big expensive houses have big tax bills too. One couple I know has a huge house on 50 acres (field rented to farmer) and the property tax bill is $25k every year. That helps pay for services like schools, fire station, roads, and police.

My property taxes are $12,000 a year, much higher than the average bear around here. And yes, those taxes pay for services others enjoy more than I benefit. No complaints here.

 

[Frankenkubota]

My house and shop were built with steel studs in 1988.

I've remodeled restaurants using steel interior studs. Easy to work with.

My initial plan was to use structural steel in my new house, like they do when they build storage facilities.

Steel framing package from 1 co in Ga was 3 x the price of wood, i couldn't justify it.

6 months later, lumber is up 250%.

Can't win for losing.