# Anybody else feeling the pain of trying to build a shop and construction lumber $$



## bonesbr549 (Jan 1, 2010)

I have been away for a good while. Sold my house / shop in PA and moved back to Roanoke. The goal was to live in temp housing while my forever house and shop was being built this spring at smith mountain lake in VA. Already had the land ready to go, and the builder comes in and hits me with a huge jump in pricing due to building materials. I had to pause and wait for materials to come down its just been stupid this year. While starting to come down not seen a huge swing yet. Any of you other folks been stung by the rise in construction materials…..?


----------



## Knockonit (Nov 5, 2017)

oh yeah,m i figure after starting my 1200 sq ft shop last early spring, i've spent about 30 k more than intended. and im' a builder, here in Arizona, figures, i always seem to decide to do something at the top of the cost scale.

framing package was about 22% more, and wel just about every thing was, but, got to get it done, am at the 95% mark, need a few details to complete, and its done, retiring at beginning of year or earlier. 
good luck, i for one was gonna work till i dropped but with the employee atmosphere present, i'm done, tired of interviewing and hiring and having nothing but no shows.
Rj in az


----------



## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

If you search for 'lumber prices' you will see your question is common topic the last 12 months.

There was a very active thread tracking exorbitant 300% increases in framing lumber prices for awhile.
Latest news is that prices are now falling?

Best Luck.


----------



## squazo (Nov 23, 2013)

You could have a different kind of structure put up, concrete is still cheap get a quote for an ICF building. or steel. I just built a fence and it was overpriced for sure. It is a short fence so no big deal really.


----------



## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

For sure even for my small shop projects I slow to jump. Sure am glad I had my metal garage put up 10 years ago.
I can't imagine what it would cost now.


----------



## Hammerthumb (Dec 28, 2012)

Everything is now going up. Just not at the rate lumber was the last few months. I just got a quote for some stainless plate 2 weeks ago. $69k. I sent the PO 6 days later, and within an hour received an order acknowledgment. Another hour passes and receive an email that the price has increased to $78k. I called and discussed this with the supplier. They informed me that their quotes have changed and now state that price is subject to change at order input time. My company has been dealing with this company for 20years and this is new. I would have bought from another vendor, but this vendor was the only one that could provide material in my required time line. Over budget on this job before starting.
Same project- I tried to order from another supplier 6000sf of 3" Thermafiber Rainbarrier 45. I was told by another 20yr relationship supplier that it was back ordered 173 days. I just bought the same material last year (24,000sf) and had to wait a week.
I have to go visit another supplier in PA next week. A 20 week lead time on this order is on it's 26th week and nothing has been shipped. The blame is on broken equipment, no repair services to fix, no parts. Supposedly all due to Covid. Commercial construction is getting more difficult by the day, even if cost is not the issue.
Sorry for the rant. Going to Montana for a weekend of fishing. Maybe next week will be better


----------



## iminmyshop (Dec 9, 2012)

My shop is being expanded. Lumber prices at this point are not entirely back to pre-Covid prices but getting close enough that the extra cost was not prohibitive. It was predicted that the price rises would be temporary and they have been for the most part. The bigger problem is still some material shortages due to shipping issues. That too will likely resolve over the next 6 months as the pandemic plays out. This will end as all pandemics do with everyone being immunized either by getting Covid or by being vaccinated. The faster that happens the faster it will end and life will return to normal.


----------



## ac0rn (Jan 31, 2020)

Here the lumber prices are coming down, but the yard said the big hit is coming for steel. Everything from re-bar for footing, to metal roofing, and everything between. Expect shortage and higher $.


----------



## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

Not so much for framing, but I have some other stuff on hold (deck replacement among them) due to the high cost. I haven't done any woodworking recently for the same reason.


----------



## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

I guess we got lucky. Sold pur place in the mountains in August of last year. Bought a place north west of Tucson and moved in almost exactly a year ago. We quickly contracted for a 74X16 covered patio. The excess lumber and cutoffs, we retained. Several 2×8x20s and a few 2×6x20s. In addition, the 20X40X12 metal building on the property, had a very well constructed 20X24X8, 3/4" MDF roofed room built inside. We harvested another batch of 2X6X20, plus bunch of good, straight 92 5/8" studs, with that deconstruction. We left the outside 20' wall intact. And, used the other salvaged 2X4s to build out the rest of the walls. 
We had to purchase the insulation for the walls and ceiling but, that was the only expense we incurred for the shop….other than wiring and lighting. One, 40' stud wall and one end wall was covered with a combination of salvaged peg board and, around a thousand sq. ft. of oak laminate flooring salvaged from the flooring replacement in the house.
The remaining 40' wall was covered with slats from a few dozen scavenged pallets.
So, the lumber price spike hasn't impacted our building projects. Other than, we had initially planned to cover the walls with 1/2" A/C ply. We just went another direction. You could say that spike was a blessing in disguise, as it forced us to become a little creative and, in so doing, actually saved us what we would have spent even if the spike hadn't occurred.


----------



## prazbotta (May 20, 2020)

> Any of you other folks been stung by the rise in construction materials…..?
> 
> - bonesbr549


Not trying to plug it by any means, but look at my workshop page. I have been stung. About 80% overbudget.
We are getting close to being able to occupy it, still have some work to do yet.


----------



## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I think now would actually be an okay time to build, 2×4 studs are back under $3/ea and 4×8x7/16 OSB is around $15/sheet down from over $50. I bought my lumber for my 16'x22' shed last July and prices had gone up 15% since I was quoted in June, I was pissed but it turned into a blessing in disguise. I paid $17.55 for ~40 sheets of 4×10x7/16 OSB that more than doubled in the following two months. I saw 2×6x12 (rafters) & 2×8x16 (ceiling joists) go up by 30% over night at Lowe's, HD lagged by a day and I was able to get ~$1000 worth of lumber before having to pay over $1300 for the same order just one day later. Most everything has declined to managable levels, albeit not the bargain some lumber used to be but a small fraction of what it peaked at. Housing values are still high and I'm again contemplating building a house at my property up the road as my house is up 48% from what I bought it for less than 3 years ago, combined with quasi reasonable lumber costs the thought of exactly what I want to live in is very appealing.


----------

