Material costs rising- what would you buy now to hedge inflation

[ultrarunner]

In traditional horror films silver bullets did nothing for vampires but were effective on werewolves.

Let's keep our fiction factual, please.

Yes... by all means and don't forget the Lone Ranger...

 

[DieselBound]

In my opinion there is no such thing as a bad time to build something.

Sure there is. IF you're broke! Also the case if you KNOW that you'll end up broke!

Figure that materials will become less affordable in the longer-run and that labor is likely to be cheaper.

Buying wiring might not be a bad idea. Other material also not likely a bad idea. IF you over-buy you can sell whatever you don't use; yes, you could take a slight hit, but then again you might actually get a larger return (best anyone can figure here is that of break-even when factoring in inflation and such). Materials can always be used to build a house; one cannot say the same with paper money (unless it's a bale house, bales of dollar bills!).

 

[DieselBound]

I disagree, in my opinion 5$ gasoline is not here to stay. History has taught me, prices rise and fall. Recession will take prices down as it kills jobs. The CEO GM thought high gas prices were here to stay back in 2008 but in 2009 they dropped dramatically.

2007-2009 Recession (from Wikipedia)

The Great Recession had a significant economic and political impact on the United States. While the recession technically lasted from December 2007 – June 2009 (the nominal GDP trough), many important economic variables did not regain pre-recession (November or Q4 2007) levels until 2011–2016. For example, real GDP fell $650 billion (4.3%) and did not recover its $15 trillion pre-recession level until Q3 2011.[103] Household net worth, which reflects the value of both stock markets and housing prices, fell $11.5 trillion (17.3%) and did not regain its pre-recession level of $66.4 trillion until Q3 2012.[104] The number of persons with jobs (total non-farm payrolls) fell 8.6 million (6.2%) and did not regain the pre-recession level of 138.3 million until May 2014.[105] The unemployment rate peaked at 10.0% in October 2009 and did not return to its pre-recession level of 4.7% until May 2016.

PRICE is meaningless. It's about affordability!

Pay attention to what you wrote in your first paragraph, specifically your second sentence.

If YOU lose your job then a drop in gasoline from $5/gal to $2.50/gal isn't going to be all that meaningful.

Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Understand geopolitics and the BIG global changes that are occurring: note that the USD is under attack as the world's reserve currency; a leg of that chair is currently being sawed off (US sanctions on Russia have forced Russia to totally decouple from the USD and push energy trade, which represents the greatest chunk of global trade, toward other currencies). Euro is likely to crumble in the nearer term (most certainly if they actually stop gas/oil/coal purchases from Russia); this will help keep the USD afloat a bit longer, but with the collapse of the Euro that means an export hit to US manufacturers (European customers are poorer). VOLUME helps create "economies of scale;" no one asks what happens when there's a reversal (I "coined" the phrase "economies of scale in reverse" as a means to better understand the ramifications): watch for "factory utilization" stats to see how things blow...

 

[grsthegreat]

I bought a printing press to make my own money. Hopefully will pay for itself soon……not

 

[mark48]

Wire size is determined by ampacity. !5amp - 14 ga. 20 Amp -12 ga....Check code where you need each. !2 ga everywhere is overkill and it's a ***** to secure IMO...

 

[5030]

I bought a printing press to make my own money. Hopefully will pay for itself soon……not

You can send some my way, I'll do a first article test on it for you at no charge...

 

[lman]

I bought a printing press to make my own money. Hopefully will pay for itself soon……not

You and Uncle Sam.

 

[WVH1977]

I had my house built in the middle of 2020. Right when COVID hit hard. Me and my wife had been looking at house plans and talking to a family member who is a builder. When we started this whole process we bought land first and moved in with my Mom and sold my house. It was FUN living with Mom again!!

I thought we paid too much for the land even though we got it under the county assessment.

I thought the house would be built for $ 125 a square when the process started. Took 3 years to actually finally build. I thought that was high. Ended up costing $ 152 a square.

Looked at 5 million house plans. How to get the most out of the square footage. This was insane. Finally had a local architect draw something up and that is what we went with.

Looked at every possible mortgage/interest/monthly payment scenario to make you puke.

Was scared to death would not appraise and my loan would fall through. This kept me sticking to a smaller house and leaving 2 foot off that I wish I left in.

Once said and done I went $ 15,000.00 over my initial goal for budget I did not want to break but stayed under my maximum number.

Lumber went up on me $ 3,000.00 and I thought I got screwed. Especially when we already had the package ordered. Lumber yard kept going up.

All done and my monthly payment is not bad at all. I have a lot of equity already in the house and land. Is it my dream home? No, but it is extremely nice and I am lucky to have gotten it built for the price I did. You cannot predict the future and waiting for the unknown doesn't help. Get it done and over with and move on with your life. I worried myself to death over that $ 152 a square and the final number. Looking back I now feel blessed to have gotten it for that price and had I not been such a worry wart I could have built the house a little bigger.
The most important/best thing I did was bricking the whole house including deck and porch.

 

[newbury]

PRICE is meaningless. It's about affordability!

Don't forget AVAILABILITY. We've recently seen supply lines for a wide variety of things collapse. That's why I mentioned appliances. If the OP KNOWS what they will want a washer/dryer bought now is a sure thing. I'm pretty sure "common" hardware, like wire and nails will be available. And they are available from a variety of manufacturers. But appliances are things that differ greatly between manufacturers and people often get picky about brands and colors.
That's why I wrote

Build some small storage first or buy a shipping container for more secure storage.

And fill it with what you know you (or your significant other) will need and want.

 

[3Ts]

Be careful if you use the shipping container for storage. Be sure it is raised and force ventilated (solar fans or wind turbines, etc) other wise the humidity will corrode what you store. Also, insulate the inside roof if possible to keep condensation from dripping on what you store.