Lumber prices and alternatives

YJJPWrangler said:
The lot next to us has been cleared and graded since September of last year. Pretty sure I'm going to be starting at an empty lot for a long while until lumber prices go back down.

3/4" maple plywood used to be $50 a sheet....now its up around $80. Same with 1/2", went from $30 to $50.

Bad time to start a part time woodworking company for sure :lol:
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Great time to invest in a sawmill?
 
I'm surprised at the number of good wood pallets I see laying around.
You'd think they'd be rounded up and re used for other stuff
 
CasterTroy said:
What you WILL see....are all those signs at the entrance to new neighborhoods that now say "From the $350's" painted over and "From the $450's" replacing it
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My dad is a realtor in Charlotte. He said one development has halted construction unless the house was to the sheetrock/finish out phase. Some of my friends live across from a neighborhood going up and they have been increasing their prices.
 
So what is going on with the trucking/hauling world? Why has it suddenly goten so bad?
I keep hearing a shortage of good drivers - and @Jody Treadway 's thread is an example - but why that sector?
 
RatLabGuy said:
So what is going on with the trucking/hauling world? Why has it suddenly goten so bad?
I keep hearing a shortage of good drivers - and @Jody Treadway 's thread is an example - but why that sector?
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On a bigger scale, I am being told many, many independent truckers are hauling for windmill construction in the midwest. They're making bank hauling short distance.
Really, between construction and building booming as well as retail sales high as ever, trucking is super busy.
Last time I checked, there was 3500 loads to ship one day last week. 400 available trucks to transport them.
I recently paid $750 to ship a load 92 miles to Charlotte. Used to be $350.
Wait untill produce season...gotta ship food quickly. It spoils. Wood, clothes, etc doesn't. Higher rates, fewer trucks again.
 
Jody Treadway said:
Wait untill produce season...gotta ship food quickly. It spoils. Wood, clothes, etc doesn't. Higher rates, fewer trucks again.
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There isn’t a shortage of trucks. There is a shortage of flatbeds.
FIL owns a trucking company hauling produce. 14 reefer trucks. They are light currently . But none of his guys want to haul flatbed. Completely different industries believe it or not
 
Ron said:
There isn’t a shortage of trucks. There is a shortage of flatbeds.
FIL owns a trucking company hauling produce. 14 reefer trucks. They are light currently . But none of his guys want to haul flatbed. Completely different industries believe it or not
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I should have pointed out flatbed vs van trailer. Good point 👍
 
Ron said:
There isn’t a shortage of trucks. There is a shortage of flatbeds.
FIL owns a trucking company hauling produce. 14 reefer trucks. They are light currently . But none of his guys want to haul flatbed. Completely different industries believe it or not
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Is that due to tarping, strapping, and the elements? None of them want to deal with the extra work?
 
ghost said:
Great time to invest in a sawmill?
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I'd love to but can't currently justify the cost and I really don't have room for it at the house now. The only good thing is that "nice" lumber is still relatively unchanged. I can still get walnut slabs for $6-8 a bf from the sawmill and they have a great selection on hand.
 
YJJPWrangler said:
I'd love to but can't currently justify the cost and I really don't have room for it at the house now. The only good thing is that "nice" lumber is still relatively unchanged. I can still get walnut slabs for $6-8 a bf from the sawmill and they have a great selection on hand.
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Which mill? I don't have any need for walnut slabs (I loooove walnut though), but I like to know what the local options are for future stuff (siding/flooring/decking/beams/whatever). I don't really know any of the mills around here (I'm H'ville).
 
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justjeepin86 said:
Sounds like a good time to buy a couple OTR trucks to me!
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Good luck getting drivers...
Ron said:
There isn’t a shortage of trucks. There is a shortage of flatbeds.
FIL owns a trucking company hauling produce. 14 reefer trucks. They are light currently . But none of his guys want to haul flatbed. Completely different industries believe it or not
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It's not just flatbeds it's drivers too. No one wants to drive trucks and a lot want to be near the house. There was a purge of drivers a couple years ago with the electronic logs.
justjeepin86 said:
Is that due to tarping, strapping, and the elements? None of them want to deal with the extra work?
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Most companies get extra $$$ for that. Tarp fee is one of them. Flatbed rates are about double what a van rate is and refer rates are generally 50% - 75% higher depending on a lot of factors like pick up and delivery location and product. TO put it into perspective I run 2 drivers and this past year has been good. I have two good drivers. Prior to these two it was a nightmare. My BIL runs two refers and his two are making more in a week than mine in a week. Last time I checked my Uncle, Carrol Fulmer Co had about 25 trucks sitting because they could not find drivers.
 
justjeepin86 said:
Is that due to tarping, strapping, and the elements? None of them want to deal with the extra work?
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To be honest, truck drivers are a different cool breed. At least the old school ones are.
They identify with what they drive, be it brand, engine, load type - whatever.

I cant explain it. FIL is pushing 70, been driving since he was 14 when he had to get a chauffeur license (no shit in SC there was no CDL then - you got a chauffeur license)...several years ago when things were slow for him I needed a bunch of flatbed loads hauled. I had X dollars set aside. It was enough to buy him 2 flat bed trailers inn full and pay his normal rate. He declined "We aint no damn equipment jockies - we are damn produce professionals" he said ..... only half joking. He asked his drivers adnt ehy all rathered sit hom unpaid than drive flatb ed loads. This was no tarp and single point strap (per side) loads.
 
YJJPWrangler said:
I'd love to but can't currently justify the cost and I really don't have room for it at the house now. The only good thing is that "nice" lumber is still relatively unchanged. I can still get walnut slabs for $6-8 a bf from the sawmill and they have a great selection on hand.
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Sounded like you have an empty lot next door.
 
Ron said:
There isn’t a shortage of trucks. There is a shortage of flatbeds.
FIL owns a trucking company hauling produce. 14 reefer trucks. They are light currently . But none of his guys want to haul flatbed. Completely different industries believe it or not
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Tell him to look into hauling for H&M bay. They left a load at my dock today because they didn't have a truck.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I'm surprised at the number of good wood pallets I see laying around.
You'd think they'd be rounded up and re used for other stuff
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"good" pallets dont really exist if they made out of wood, the better pallets usually the ones block and other heavy material come on they charge us 75.00 a pallet and we get a refund when returned.
 
I stopped 2 houses last week because I can't build them for the contracted price. Head office said to put the brakes on until the very last minute in hopes of some normalcy. We are converting anything w/ 24" LVLs to steel, as they can't be had. I-joists are going to open webs for the same reason. Timelines get pushed every week because my supplier can't keep up. To make things more fun, we're looking at $28k in losses due to theft last week and having difficulty getting replacement orders. Carry on...
 
I got this from our engineer. About commercial construction and ground up buildings.

"Yes, 8-9 weeks currently on drawings.(light gauge metal stud structural) I had one that had to go to another design firm down in Atlanta that is 6 weeks out, but their price was triple mine and they are Dietrich affiliated, so material is heavy as well.

(Bar joist availability) Basically, there are no bar joists this year if you haven’t already gotten the order in. I am having to redesign a DOD project that I am EOR on, because even the US Gov’t can’t get a spot on the production schedule. One joist manufacturer said they will resume taking orders in Jan-Feb of 2022, the other says they may be able to deliver in late Q1 of 2022 of orders taken now. Basically an 8 month wait no matter what. Structural steel is falling farther behind as well, last I checked it is about 12 weeks for drawings, and several more weeks for material delivery, but the full transition away from joist has not been figured in yet. There is just a lot going on, material prices are up, and there are supply chain breakdowns across the board. I know some GC’s are trying to take the stick your head in the sand and pretend like it isn’t the case, but basically if you are going to permit now, you are not building this summer, it doesn’t matter what the material is. Light gauge is the shortest lead time, but even if you go with supplier affiliated design, you are still 7-8 weeks from approved drawings, because a lot of engineering firms are changing their allow 7 days for review to 21 days to account for the design overload. That puts you optimistically in August delivery for something coming in right now no matter what, and there are a lot of projects out there thinking they are going to be getting materials in June-July, but that opportunity is basically gone. Nobody is staffing up for the increased demand either, because by the time you would build production facility, or add staffing, the demand, heavily fueled by a $6 trillion dollar shot in the arm is going to die off. Still this is a much better problem, than the nothing to do that would have likely been going on without the stimulus. So just buckle down and be patient."
 
There are shortages with Insulation, drywall mud, paint, Loong lead times on metal, and I was even told there will be a shortage on Drywall itself coming up. Belmont/Mount Holly (National Gypsum) plant that makes Drywall locally is already running 7 days a week and can't keep up with the demand. They are producing more 1/2" sheetrock for the residential/multifamily buildings which in turn limits our 5/8 sheetrock we use for commercial work.
 
Got the material to start the flooring of my shed...
 

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No fries said:
There are shortages with Insulation, drywall mud, paint, Loong lead times on metal, and I was even told there will be a shortage on Drywall itself coming up. Belmont/Mount Holly (National Gypsum) plant that makes Drywall locally is already running 7 days a week and can't keep up with the demand. They are producing more 1/2" sheetrock for the residential/multifamily buildings which in turn limits our 5/8 sheetrock we use for commercial work.
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That Plant has been having issues with machine downtime for over a year, not terrible surprised they can't keep up.
 
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