Cost of raw materials

[JoeM 7,874]

On 5/26/2021 at 9:56 PM, Wheel Horse 3D said:

Back to material costs

Picked this up and almost......almost felt like I got a deal!

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

Makes me want to sit in my woods 

with my shot gun so no one cuts my

hard woods down!  I just wonder how 

long before the balloon burst?  

[Ed Kennell 38,174]

Feeling grateful that Mrs K convinced me to spend the $15,000 in 2019 for the 2000 board feet of 3/4"  T&G white  oak flooring I installed throughout the house.     

Worth nearly $50,000 today.

[wallfish 17,000]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

Feeling grateful that Mrs K convinced me to spend the $15,000 in 2019 for the 2000 board feet of 3/4"  T&G white  oak flooring I installed throughout the house.     

Worth nearly $50,000 today.

Now you got me thinking of parting out my house! LoL

[c-series don 8,707]

I went to that big orange box store yesterday to purchase 3/4” CDX plywood to enlarge the surface of my newly purchased lift table. I was shocked to see it was 80 bucks a sheet!! As I looked around in I became even more shocked to see oak plywood was only 60 bucks a sheet and maple plywood 65!! So I purchased the oak that’s beautiful with no knots! 

[formariz 11,987]

3 hours ago, c-series don said:

I went to that big orange box store yesterday to purchase 3/4” CDX plywood to enlarge the surface of my newly purchased lift table. I was shocked to see it was 80 bucks a sheet!! As I looked around in I became even more shocked to see oak plywood was only 60 bucks a sheet and maple plywood 65!! So I purchased the oak that’s beautiful with no knots! 

I guess its all related. House construction materials are the highest ever around here. Home sales have reached a ridiculous high, where one cannot find any for sale. They are all being immediately  gobbled up by out of state  buyers offering on average 30% more than the asking price and most paying cash for them. I find the cash payments a really disturbing fact. Money laundering????

[Ed Kennell 38,174]

6 hours ago, wallfish said:

thinking of parting out my house!

I had the same thought John.    I'm thinking this 2K sqft rancher that I paid $22K for in 1965 now contains around 1/2mill$ in raw materials.

[seuadr 488]

living this right now with the cost of lumber/housing issues.

 

I don't even live anywhere "popular" nor particularly expensive.

 

We purchased 10 acres in 2015 with the intent of building on it, but, then my parents lost their house and moved in with us (both disabled - my dad has an early form of dementia and can't work because he forgot how to drive - drove semis and straight trucks for nearly 40 years! and my mom has significant heart issues.) 

 

Fast forward to this last year - we saved a lot of money while working from home on child care, and, combined with having 6 people in a 1600 sq foot house all the time we decided it was time to do something different.

 

We started looking at houses because it had to be cheaper to buy than build - right?

we looked at houses that were half finished and left to fall apart - going for cash over asking the same day they were listed, so, we are looking at building.

 

One of the things i was really interested in when looking at building before was Insulated Structural Panels (SIPS) but the cost was ~30% more than lumber so it was a tough sell - plus we were looking at ~300k to build which was more than we were comfortable taking on...

 

well here we are reviewing bids for SIPS to build because it is now CHEAPER than traditional (and the energy performance is way better) 

we are looking at ~100k for the exterior shell, including roofing and basement installed and dried in - and we are looking at 100-200k in interior finishing costs because of lumber prices.

we are actually talking with our architect and considering steel walls because they look to be cheaper!

 

strange times..

[Ed Kennell 38,174]

https://www.businessinsider.com/states-offering-workers-cash-bonuses-to-return-work-unemployment-incentives-2021-5

https://www.hiremaster.com/lp/company-driver-apply/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=company&msclkid=c08120a467871d985cd240130883e88e

 

On a personal note, my niece, who is the HR manager of a large waste management company here in  York, Pa., has been desperately  trying to fill a 3rd shift diesel mechanic position for over a year.

The pay and benefits are excellent and includes a $2000 sign on bonus.     PM me if interested.

[tom2p 2,394]

I often hit the area in the back of the local Home Depot for wood in the 75% off area - although pickins have been slim over the past year or so and especially recently 

 

just got a nice piece of 3/4 plywood at a flea market for $5 - around 1/3 sheet 

 

[tom2p 2,394]

On 5/30/2021 at 4:27 PM, Ed Kennell said:

I had the same thought John.    I'm thinking this 2K sqft rancher that I paid $22K for in 1965 now contains around 1/2mill$ in raw materials.

and you know that wood is a heckuva lot better than most of the stuff you see now - especially the joists and sheeting  etc 

 

I can recall one large ranch my dad worked on years (and years) ago that had tongue and groove (pine ?) under the tile roof 

 

[Handy Don 12,230]

Over the weekend I sistered a splitting floor joist for the ground floor in my daughter's old house. I noticed that the subfloor on top of the joists had bits of cement stuck to it and realized the builder had repurposed the forms for the footings and basement walls as the subfloor! When I looked closely and measured, I found tightly-grained 5/4 x10's and a lot of them were 14-16' long! The joists were true 2x10's spanning only 10 feet so that floor wasn't gonna fail from one split joist! Still, it was the right thing to do to give the split one some help.

Anyway, the one "2x10" sister cost $35!

Edited June 2, 2021 by Handy Don

[Ed Kennell 38,174]

11 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

builder had repurposed the forms for the footings and basement walls as the subfloor!

As a  11-13yo youngster, I helped my Grandfather tear down several houses that were sold for cheap to make room for a collage expansion.    We saved everything and built several new houses with the repurposed materials.  The dutch clapboard siding was turned up side down and used for subflooring.  I spent several summers pulling nails and cleaning blocks.

[Handy Don 12,230]

3 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

spent several summers pulling nails and cleaning blocks

Yep, builds character doesn't it! 

I was in 9th grade when my dad found me a summer job with a guy recovering bricks from a demolished building. Chipping mortar, hauling a 20 bricks at a time in two carriers over the rubble to stack in the trailer. Man did I earn my pay!

[tom2p 2,394]

52 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

As a  11-13yo youngster, I helped my Grandfather tear down several houses that were sold for cheap to make room for a collage expansion.    We saved everything and built several new houses with the repurposed materials.  The dutch clapboard siding was turned up side down and used for subflooring.  I spent several summers pulling nails and cleaning blocks.

I helped my dad do same thing for years - we tore down old houses and buildings and he built three apartments (in his spare time) with the material (two side-by-side duplexes and one smaller up-down apartment 

 

almost all block and wood was used - including hardwood flooring, some copper pipe - even installed a couple of used furnaces in two of those buildings 

 

many of the houses we tore down were leveled to make way for I-279 north / 'Parkway North' north of Pittsburgh which connects to I-279 in Wexford 

 

we also got a few houses that were leveled to make way for a small convenience store / gas station  

found some neat stuff including old  bills and coins stuffed behind walls and door jambs etc 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by tom2p

[RandyLittrell 3,877]

Back on track here, the cost of raw materials. 

 

One reason for high cost of building materials and other items is not just a pandemic, but also mother nature. We have had many hurricanes and tornados plus wildfires in the last few years that supply just can't keep up with demand. Twenty year drought out west with this year stacking up to be the worst, will add money to food as well. 

 

I think we need to get back to gardening and living within our means. 

 

 

 

 

Randy

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

What about beef?? Toooo high! 
 

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

4 hours ago, The Tuul Crib said:

What about beef?? Toooo high! 
 

We get our beef locally...Had an 80yr old preacher show me up diggin a  hole, asked him what his secret was. He said " Well the Doc told me I had better steer away from red meat!....So I went an bought me some BLACK cows!"

[Ed Kennell 38,174]

4 hours ago, RandyLittrell said:

living within our means.

 

                     , but it may be too late Randy.   Every newborn child is saddled with their share of the national debt.      $85,210 /US citizen  and no sign of stopping.

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

23 minutes ago, Wheel Horse 3D said:

BLACK cows!"

You mean The Black Crows?!  

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

Had a pleasure of meeting there

production crew and staff! Great folks !

[953 nut 55,229]

6 hours ago, RandyLittrell said:

we need to get back to gardening and living within our means.

       Our robust economy has been thriving on debt for many years,   wild talk like that could torpedo the entire world economic system!

 

Had an elderly neighbor who enjoyed attending car shows with me. At one of these shows we went into an ice cream parlor and he was aghast to see that a banana split  was $ 3.75. He said when he was working in a soda fountain they were $ .35. I asked him when that was, he said 1939.  I told him the price was the same now (1990) as when he was making them;  one hour of minimum wage. The moral of this story is that today's outrageous prices will be tomorrow's "remember when" prices.  

[RandyLittrell 3,877]

3 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

                     , but it may be too late Randy.   Every newborn child is saddled with their share of the national debt.      $85,210 /US citizen  and no sign of stopping.

 

Well, I am doing my part. I live in a 100 years old small house on a basement with 2 bedrooms and we raised 2 kids in it, but the original owner raised 6 in it! We didn't cave to the gotta have a new big house and always tried to keep our bills where we could live on one of our saleries if we had to. Now the kids are raised and we don't owe much and get along just fine, but I do truly worry for my kids and grandkids. I believe some truly hard times are coming in my kids or grandkids lifetime and hope they can weather it!! 

 

I'm not gonna debate national debt here cause it's gonna go south quick!! 

 

 

 

Randy

[Handy Don 12,230]

We aren't the first generations to have fear for the future of our children. You don't have to read a lot of history to learn about long periods of war and other strife that affected several generations. Some found ways to survive; many were lost. There will surely be trials and adjustments ahead and I'm betting the past will be the future.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Handy Don

[RandyLittrell 3,877]

1 hour ago, 953 nut said:

       Our robust economy has been thriving on debt for many years,   wild talk like that could torpedo the entire world economic system!

 

 

Our system confuses the heck outa me!! We don't really build anything anymore, everything is consumer driven and I don't see how you are supposed to grow an X percentage a year and saleries never grow at that rate! 

 

I just trust that my 401K guy knows what he is doing (and he has done well for me) and try not to spend much. Which is dang hard when you love old tractors!!! 

 

 

 

Randy