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Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

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Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#161

Post by bredren »

RNCTX wrote: post #139
octopoc wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may ask, what are your thoughts on BuildZoom? If I go through them can I be more certain about quality work? I have heard many horror stories of people who had houses built and the builders made terrible mistakes. The person having the house built had to micromanage them and kept finding bad mistakes, like "forgetting" to put insulation in walls before the drywall, putting a window in the wrong spot, or putting…

> check on it every day you got it. > Is there a better way? no.

This is also how you ensure software projects you contract out are being built "right."

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#163

Post by Kiro »

jrek wrote: post #150
Kiro wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are scare quotes as the poster admits in another comment.

The poster said "I'm legitimately quoting", which doesn't sound like an admission to me.

Read the next part of that sentence.

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#165

Post by kebman »

mgkimsal wrote: post #13

"If high prices held you back from building, you are in luck, as the tables have now turned" Except... many builders will find some other reason/excuse where prices are high to keep prices high. We were looking at building a house - talked to builder last November and... looking at $470-$480k range (ballpark estimate). Lumber was going higher, but we'd reduced the house plan size. Lumber kept going up... and up... Th…

Yes, these companies and contractors have already spent a ton of extra money panic-buying lumber at a highly elevated price due to the shortage. Many of them probably didn't even have a choice but to buy in order for their building contracts to stay valid.

For most it's far more expensive to get bogged down in litigation than just buying the lumber at whatever the asking price is. So now they've got to cut corners or find another way to make money despite of their elevated holds of lumber.

The result may very well be deflation, as contractors are now forced to undercut each other to get new building contracts, as lumber production has been increased to meet the demand. That is if you can afford to wait.

Think of it like a traffic jam. The cars behind the lumber car won't be able to move before it can move, and then—due to market insecurities—the lumber car might not even be able to go full steam ahead. Because no lumber producer wants to producer more lumber than necessary, since that'll only lead to the price dropping unnecessarily. And so we're stuck in a situation where the line leap-frogs slowly forward until the guys in the front finally feel safe enough to push the pedal to the metal.

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#167

Post by kebman »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #37
mgkimsal wrote: post #13

"If high prices held you back from building, you are in luck, as the tables have now turned" Except... many builders will find some other reason/excuse where prices are high to keep prices high. We were looking at building a house - talked to builder last November and... looking at $470-$480k range (ballpark estimate). Lumber was going higher, but we'd reduced the house plan size. Lumber kept going up... and up... Th…

I would wait. I'm an licensed inactive General Contractor. If 14 months ago, they were building them for $450,000, I'd wait. I'd shop around for another contractor too. A young guy starting out, might save you a lot. (There's no way to verify he knows what he's doing though.) If you are some what handy, it's not that difficult to owner build your own house. That is if you get the blueprints past the town's council. G…

Why does the USA, The Land of the Free and The Land of Opportunity, have so much bureaucracy? Look, I know fire codes are important, and you don't want a building to crumble in around you, but... Seems the building codes in the US are unnecessarily strict. Is it power hungry bureaucrats or exploitation from contractors that has lead to it? And how can the people be given more liberty to build the way they want?

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#168

Post by teekert »

Fiahil wrote: post #166

What bothered me the most during this whole episode, is that the prices also skyrocketed, here, in Europe. We had nowhere near the same need for wood as north-american constructions.

Because the markets are connected? If you have lumber, why sell it on the cheap to Europeans when you can get more from the Americans?

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#169

Post by dougmwne »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #37
mgkimsal wrote: post #13

"If high prices held you back from building, you are in luck, as the tables have now turned" Except... many builders will find some other reason/excuse where prices are high to keep prices high. We were looking at building a house - talked to builder last November and... looking at $470-$480k range (ballpark estimate). Lumber was going higher, but we'd reduced the house plan size. Lumber kept going up... and up... Th…

I would wait. I'm an licensed inactive General Contractor. If 14 months ago, they were building them for $450,000, I'd wait. I'd shop around for another contractor too. A young guy starting out, might save you a lot. (There's no way to verify he knows what he's doing though.) If you are some what handy, it's not that difficult to owner build your own house. That is if you get the blueprints past the town's council. G…

My stepdad was a software engineer and built our house growing up. The house was fabulous. The construction took 15 years of hard labor as a full time second job

Re: Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

#170

Post by okuboheavy »

satya71 wrote: post #90
octopoc wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may ask, what are your thoughts on BuildZoom? If I go through them can I be more certain about quality work? I have heard many horror stories of people who had houses built and the builders made terrible mistakes. The person having the house built had to micromanage them and kept finding bad mistakes, like "forgetting" to put insulation in walls before the drywall, putting a window in the wrong spot, or putting…

Unconventional, a St Louis entrepreneur built a container house. Few things to go wrong there.

Unfortunately a container house will always end up both more expensive and worse than a traditionally built house. Containers are fantastic as containers but terrible for making a house with. As soon as you start cutting holes in them they lose a great deal of their structural strength which is their main advantage. Terrible to insulate and for condensation as well. The exception is if you’re happy with a single container with no additional holes and only the doors for access and windows and you live in a very low humidity environment.
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