Y'all Been Checkin' Lumber Prices?

[goeduck]

In his spare time, my dad used to inspect houses for HUD. Took me along as a kid and young man. While it was interesting, I really think his intention was to show me all the stuff that most people don’t notice, let alone even think about. Great lessons.

My favorite part as a kid would be we’d walk into a room and he’d hand me a large marble. We‘d set it down on the bare floor and see if it rolled, how far, how fast, and in what directions, etc… then we’d go in the basement and see why.

Fresh paint on basement walls and floors usually pointed to dampness/mold. 1st floor floor joists painted white in the basement often indicated past fire. Same with freshly painted attics.
Knobs and tubes. Cobbled wiring. Lead paint. Asbestos floor and ceiling tiles, and attic insulation. Windows that weren’t square. Gaps under both interior and exterior doors that weren’t even. Crumbling foundations. Cracked floor joists. Uneven roofs. Gutters that weren’t sloped right. Water damage. YIKES! I could go on.

Great lessons. Thanks, Pops!

Exactly. My inspector was 60ish with grey hair to prove it. Very organized and very thorough. Not that I just fell off the turnip truck, but I appreiciated his knowledge. I told him a few things he did not know, but he told me many more that I had not thought of. Surely an under appreciated profession if done right. Gotta love a professional that knows their business.

 

[ultrarunner]

Knob and Tube had been good for me because it eliminates competition.

40 years a no knob and tube issues when the knob and tube is unmolested

View attachment 758830My first subdivision, 8-per acre. “Z-lots” a sort of shared driveway. One garage in the front, the other in the back. Minimum legal setbacks. Then I got to help on one that covered a square mile with a park, then another about half a mile away.

View attachment 758835
Again minimum legal 2-0 setbacks, 12 to the acre condos, 800 1000, and 1200 sf. .

They liked that, so more “Z-Lots” on a larger chunk of land so we could really optimize the concept. I was building four of them in 28-days, slab to C of O. Supers o other subdivisions were taking 6 to 8-weeks. Once I figured out that if you’re dried in, you can work all night and not get dinged for the noise ordinance, it was easy. You just give bonuses to the subs, and spend 8-hours a day on the phone herding the subs, and fourteen hours onsite. Somewhere in there the girlfriend decided she had enough. (If I ever decide I want another one, she will have grown up an a farm or ranch. They are much more understanding and used to dawn to dusk, and then some.)

They liked that so I got a four square mile project, a mix of z-lots and condos.
I started to feel like a nickle *****. I didn’t go to Engineering school to build tract homes. Felt there had to be something more meaningful.

Took a 65 to 70% cut in pay, and moved to central Idaho to design and build fish exclusion screens for irrigation diversions, to keep the salmon and steelhead in the river. Not nearly as lucrative, but I could sleep at night again.

Yep... finding comparability seems to be the age old struggle... several of my cousins grew up rural but only having grandparent farmers yet they married farmers and doing well... only being a generation removed.

On the other hand cousins that gree up on the farm wanted nothing to do with it... job and condo in the city where leaving on vacation as simple as locking the door...

 

[MossRoad]

View attachment 758830My first subdivision, 8-per acre. “Z-lots” a sort of shared driveway. One garage in the front, the other in the back. Minimum legal setbacks. Then I got to help on one that covered a square mile with a park, then another about half a mile away.

View attachment 758835
Again minimum legal 2-0 setbacks, 12 to the acre condos, 800 1000, and 1200 sf. .

They liked that, so more “Z-Lots” on a larger chunk of land so we could really optimize the concept. I was building four of them in 28-days, slab to C of O. Supers o other subdivisions were taking 6 to 8-weeks. Once I figured out that if you’re dried in, you can work all night and not get dinged for the noise ordinance, it was easy. You just give bonuses to the subs, and spend 8-hours a day on the phone herding the subs, and fourteen hours onsite. Somewhere in there the girlfriend decided she had enough. (If I ever decide I want another one, she will have grown up an a farm or ranch. They are much more understanding and used to dawn to dusk, and then some.)

They liked that so I got a four square mile project, a mix of z-lots and condos.
I started to feel like a nickle *****. I didn’t go to Engineering school to build tract homes. Felt there had to be something more meaningful.

Took a 65 to 70% cut in pay, and moved to central Idaho to design and build fish exclusion screens for irrigation diversions, to keep the salmon and steelhead in the river. Not nearly as lucrative, but I could sleep at night again.

As my dad would say…

 

[tom3]

Wow. Four houses a month on slab. We spent a couple winters in Florida lately, do a lot of bike riding, see a house started, slab poured, post out front with all the permits. Come back next winter and the house is just under roof. I don't see how anything gets built down there.

 

[cqaigy2]

I'm all for high density housing with close access to most used facilities. Less of a foot print, lower carbon hit etc. I wouldn't live in one, but i'll promote the idea.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I had a good older friend, he had 10 kids!! Then when we would drive down the road and he'd complain about all the houses gobbling up all the land!! One day I told him, you had 10 kids, where did you think all of them were going to live??

Folks breed like rabbits, then wonder why all the land is going to housing!

SR

 

[JasperFrank]

I just bought 4, 20 foot 2x4s for less then $13 each.

 

[civilian]

I just bought 4, 20 foot 2x4s for less then $13 each.

A bit long out the back, huh? Jon

 

[JasperFrank]

I had flags.

 

[cqaigy2]

Man, you coulda posted in the Hauling Things thread.

 

[MossRoad]

I just bought 4, 20 foot 2x4s for less then $13 each.

From the trunk of some guy's car?

Oh, wait.

 

[civilian]

Man, you coulda posted in the Hauling Things thread.

And then all of TBN would have razed him. But he could have posted pictures in one thread, the pricing here. Jon

 

[newbury]

Just checked my local home depot and lowes for cheap 2x4x8 - HD is $3.75, lowes $3.75.
Might be able to afford to buy some lumber.
3/4 plywood is still stupid expensive.

 

[CADplans]

I just checked 3/4" treated plywood,,
before the pandemic, I went to get a sheet and it was out of stock, but, priced at $41 a sheet.
The next time it was in stock, it was over $91 a sheet.

I JUST checked,,, the price is now $54.67,, not too bad, considering how inflation has raised other prices!!,,,,,,,

 

[KilroyJC]

FINALLY getting the sawmill assembled. Yes it is nice that lumber prices are coming down, but the quality I saw last time I went was total crap. I needed a couple 4x4 posts and every single one had bark on at least one corner. Several had bark on all four!

The bed rails have been leveled, and hopefully this week the rest will be assembled and in operation. The ground is a little slopey. . .

 

[Jstpssng]

FINALLY getting the sawmill assembled. Yes it is nice that lumber prices are coming down, but the quality I saw last time I went was total crap. I needed a couple 4x4 posts and every single one had bark on at least one corner. Several had bark on all four!

The bed rails have been leveled, and hopefully this week the rest will be assembled and in operation. The ground is a little slopey. . .

That looks familiar! What surprised me is how well the tracks stay in line once they bolt up. You might want to stabilize it a bit better though. Once you start putting logs on it and turning them, I fear that your blocks may not stay in place.

 

[kenmbz]

Went and bought the cheapest HD cinder blocks for a temporary firepit.
$2.25 for the thinner ones I got and 3.24 for the regular ones.
None of them looked good enough to build load bearing walls, lots of gravel and some were already damaged from shipment.
So much for quality control, picking through blocks was a pain, but I got enough to do the pit and left a lot of dust/gravel behind.

 

[Jstpssng]

Went and bought the cheapest HD cinder blocks for a temporary firepit.
$2.25 for the thinner ones I got and 3.24 for the regular ones.
None of them looked good enough to build load bearing walls, lots of gravel and some were already damaged from shipment.
So much for quality control, picking through blocks was a pain, but I got enough to do the pit and left a lot of dust/gravel behind.

I've often wondered if it would be cheaper/easier to pour a retaining wall 8 inches at a time with a small mixer, vs using blocks.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Well, I just bought a trailer load of lumber from Menards for hive builds this winter.

Prices we’re good, but the guy was walking right behind me with new tags, raising them.

He said… “yeah, it sucks, as soon as prices came down, they are going back up, and the quality is terrible“

I agreed. I went through a whole stack of 1x4s… and found two that were suitable. I needed 6.

 

[JasperFrank]

There must have been some sort of mistake. Because i bought four 2X4, 20 footers, doug fur construction grade, at 12.88 each. I even had to go recheck the reciept, and that is what they costed. .