Construction shortages? Please share your experiences.

Quality and prices ard horrible. What will the texas freeze do for prices and supply? Its gonna get much worse.

It’s a lot worse then they are leading us to believe. Every week there are over 800K people filing for 1st time unemployment benefits. Total economic collapse is Quickly approaching

Im in NY and building a three car garage in a few months. The contractor just ordered the materials. The builder called me a few months ago and said there may be a change in the price due to covid and I was like WTF. When he called last week it was only about a $1000 increase on a 21k rough build. So no big deal here.

Well, I am old and remember lower prices for sure, but I had to replace a fence post a couple weeks ago.

1 bag readymix, a 2X4 and a sonotube. (I already had a couple spare 4X4s and screws.

The prices were WAAY higher than normal.

Germany here, husband of my friend works in construction (buildings) on many sites in larger city.
Didn't expect it as usually there's a shortage on construction workers here,didn't say anything about material shortage.
He got the notice for "100% kurzarbeit" yesterday. "100% kurzarbeit" means there's not enough work at all so you stay home and get paid 60% of what you usually earn (after taxes), paid by the "Arbeitsamt" (so tax money it is).

Didn't see it coming at all!

It’ll be interesting to see the total monetary damages from this storm. I suspect that it will be substantial.

Have they started Zersetzung there again?

I think They imported it to the USA.

No con shortages in us
We have obstruction

Tell Trump to pay contractors for once

I just finished a 8x16 deck. Lumber was ordered, delivered and cost almost $1000. What was most disappointing was the quality of the lumber. Ive never in my life seen so many knot holes. Id venture to say 70% or more has knot holes that are huge. Several pieces weren't even straight. Hopefully I can fill those knot holes in with bondo before I seal and paint. You'd think for that much money the quality would have been better.

While I have still been able to find all the materials I've needed, I have noticed that the prices have increased astronomically. I don't pay for things, they all go on accounts and the company deals with that end of it, but I do see the amounts and totals when I check out and it's pretty insane.

Gas is the biggest one. When I started with this company a year ago, it cost just about 50 bucks to fill up the vans/trucks. Yesterday I filled up a work van and it was just shy of 80 bucks.

I don't do a lot of roofing, but I'd imagine the price of shingles are going to skyrocket. Plywood and framing lumber is going to be hard to come by after the Texas disaster, much like hurricanes.

Like I said, I've been able to find all the materials I need, but often I have to go to 2 or 3 different stores to find everything I need, whereas before one store had it all. It seems they are having trouble getting in certain items, pvc plumbing parts specifically. Which is odd since it's just molded plastic that an injection machine spits out unaided by humans.

Other things I noticed that were missing were certain saw blades, I believe ones that were imported from China. Those have been out since last summer and no one has a clue when more will be in stock.

Last Edited by Irredeemable on 02/20/2021 09:34 AM

Lumber quality is an issue I've been dealing with for well over a decade now. Seems like since Lowes/Home Depot came into existence the quality of lumber has dropped everywhere. While I can go to local saw mills for much better quality, the price is ridiculous.

Standard 2x4x10 Douglas fir at 9$ makes framing expensive
Cheapest OSB board 3/8
$22
Gallon of premium paint $50
Day of electrician and helper on job $1k

A sheet of 4x8 0sb used to be $9.98 at Menards last year.

Now it's $35!

Unbelievable.

Use only Douglass Fur 2 x 4 and all 2 by materials for anything. Home Depot and Lowes has shitty white wood. Menards has Doug Fir. (They are a little bit pink)

10x better wood for anything. Straight and won't split like cheap whitewood. Same price.

$33 in my area, PT Lumber is even worse, PT 10' 6x6 = $72

Lumber prices are at all time record highs!


ADD: Copper is about to get to new highs, Aluminum flashing is crazier then it already was, All commodities except Gold could
soon all reach record highs!

Last Edited by M R E on 02/20/2021 11:05 AM

Supposed to start construction on a house this spring.

It is now cost prohibitive to do so. What it will cost vs what it will be “worth” according to the bank is nearly 40k of difference based on materials alone.

We already delayed the project a year because last spring fake pandemic hit.

This makes no sense to me as surely something is always worth more the raw materials put into it but I guess homes don’t work that way.

This thread says it well:

Thread: If you can't see that AMERICA IS BEING ATTACKED, You are BLIND!!!

2x10x12 wolmanized (pressure treated) just cost me $44 per board......

This is FUCKED!

damn

I can remember a time when it was in the $5 range, the last time we had huge increases in lumber prices like now was right before the 08 crash! Average home prices atm are around $303,000!

Electricity tree going unstable.

Im not sure about material costs in canada but it seems the builders are bleeding us trades dry. They are probably trying to figure out how to get the materials and not lose money

Multi finish plaster - £5 something a bag for years until arch 2020. Few months ago people were selling pallets full at £30 a bag. Back down to £7 at the moment

Summer time couldn't even get 2x4 timbers lol

In my area they are talking about a shortage in cheap housing for immigrants. They say there is not enough housing to meet the rate of influx of immigrants...I say GOOD

All wood based products (flooring, 2x4, 2x6, 4x4, ++) have tripled in price since last summer in my area.
Drywall, taping mud, plaster, stucco, +++ have doubled since last summer.
Plumbing, electrical wiring and many more associated products have almost doubled also.

When I give quotes now I can only give a labor cost and I doubled my rates since last summer due to my insurance & cost of operating has doubled also.

But I am busy, but that is due to the fact that I am booked for 3 years in advance, but as far as beyond that I am not getting any booking at this time. Usually by this time in the winter I have people clamoring to book, but not this year.

Something is about to happen. Either existing homes are going to be shooting up sky high or we sit on the brink of some massive depression type event that wipes out pretty much everything and everyone. I don’t know what would be more painful, Housing prices at insanity prices or nearly every American upside down in a mortgage they can no longer afford?

God help us all. I have never felt an economic tension in the air so thick in all my years.

I will be making a few landfill lumber shopping trips before I hit the lumber yards for an upcoming porch roof repair.
Fortunately for me the county landfill I use is the only free one around for many miles -in rural/mcMansion country- and I do a bit of tree work, so it's tree wood catch and release!

Last Edited by TerraFirma's Esoterrorist on 02/20/2021 11:27 AM