Never in my wildest dreams......................

https://www.lowes.com/pd/2-in-x-4-i...Common-1-5-in-x-3-5-in-Actual/1000525943

https://www.lowes.com/pd/2-in-x-4-i...Common-1-5-in-x-3-5-in-Actual/1000525943

https://www.lowes.com/pd/2-in-x-4-i...Common-1-5-in-x-3-5-in-Actual/1000525943

This is the last page of the framing package quote for the house I WAS going to build this year.
Same quote was just under $40k in May 2020.

Like anything, as long as people keep paying the price, it will remain high and there will be no reason for them to charge less.

One of the biggest drivers of our economy is new housing and home improvement.......it’s sad we have an idiot for president......some price gouging going on IMO......

No different than what is going on in a lot of industries. I can guarantee you that landowners are not getting more for their timber - just like ranchers aren't getting more for their cattle. The middle men are getting rich while the producers and end users get shafted.

I like Lowe’s words “our lumber is a premium blend of spruce, pine, and fir”. Aka, whatever we can get.

We've kicked around the idea of building something a little smaller than what we have now. That will be on hold until these lumber prices come back down. Just glad we are not in a place where we have to do something right now. Crazy!!

Same here. We are not going to build something that is going to cost $40,000 extra just for lumber.

Glad I am not building at this time.

there's that word again...lol

it's supply and demand, not gouging

Yup. As long as someone is willing to pay $95 for a sheet of plywood; that'll be the price.

Lol! WRONG! It’s demand...there is no shortage of trees for lumber or cement materials to mix cement......if there was a shortage of raw materials you could say both....

Multiple mills are shut down, resin to make plywood is in short supply; it's both.

Lack of labor and massive inflation.
These companies have a bottom line that dictates X amount of dollars coming in to keep the doors open.
When you produce far less than normal, what is produced is going to cost far more.

Concrete walls...

Better house and less expensive Win Win

LOL...WRONG.

There might be RAW materials available but those RAW materials need to be processed into retail products. Try again.

TexFlip is correct and that resin is used to make a lot more than plywood. Unprecedented times in the construction world.

There are a few big player in each segment, OSB Ply and Lumber. A lot of smaller guys closed and packed up years ago. In our area, we have lost around 10 mills that were enough to have some degree of competion. We gained an OSB plant during that time. Now West Fraser owns the sawmills and Norbord the OSB. Run the snot out of them now no news of any new facilities.

Had to cut back a bit on my deck project for the vacation home. All I could do for my $800 budget.

It'll be 18 months or so before things get better. We have an OSB mill that down getting $6 million in updates it'll be 6 months before it's back online. The same is true in most of the industry, mills that were shut down, are being refurbished to lower costs. Fraser has a big mill in British Columbia that's undergoing an 18 month update. Paper mills being shut down reduces lumber because about 20% of a pulp cut in MN, produces either saw logs or chip & saw log,s where part of the tree is used to produce 2x4 and 2x6 lumber.

In the mean time producers of the raw goods might as well just let the trees grow. Timber prices are very low. I would be better off selling oaks as firewood than saw logs. Prices for timber is less than it was 20 years ago from what we have been quoted. From the few that would give a quote.

Exactly, how can you say it's demand and not supply when the two are dependent of one another?

High Roller!!