Plywood and lumber prices: Who is making the most profit?

[Clarence Martinn]

Well, I spent $67 for 1 sheet of Plywood to fix the shed. $40.00 for 1 gallon of paint.


Question:

When it comes to Plywood and Lumber and these ridiculous prices that we have to pay now; who is making the most profit off of all this?

The Sawmill

The Wholesaler

The retail store


Thanks,

Clarence.

[Richard Coers]

What difference does it make? Let's see, gas is up, steel is up, all groceries are up, etc..... Saw a story on TV where a gas station on the east coast was charging $7 a gallon. Guess what, they sold out. Who makes all the profits on everything is the next question? NOTHING is getting cheaper right now.

[Peter Kelly]

Largely the sawmills and forest products companies, certainly not those actually growing the trees. https://www.wsj.com/articles/lumber-prices-are-soaring-tree-growers-miserable-11614177282

[Peter Kelly]

What difference does it make? Let's see, gas is up, steel is up, all groceries are up, etc..... Saw a story on TV where a gas station on the east coast was charging $7 a gallon. Guess what, they sold out. Who makes all the profits on everything is the next question? NOTHING is getting cheaper right now.Mortgages have gotten significantly cheaper, hence the demand for building materials.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I know for a fact - - - it isn't me.

I'm not 100% positive about my wife though.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Largely the sawmills and forest products companies, certainly not those actually growing the trees. https://www.wsj.com/articles/lumber-prices-are-soaring-tree-growers-miserable-11614177282


Unfortunately the Forest products / sawmills have become monopolistic. Meaning a very few control the market. On sheet goods, the TEXAS freeze didn't help, as most of the resins used their construction depend upon resins made in Texas. When the plants shut down, it wasn't just a matter of bringing them back on line. Everything had to be purged of old resins, cleaned, and then restarted fresh.

[Charles Coolidge]

I did not buy 15 feet of 10/2 Romex the other day priced at $42, seriously $2.8 per foot?

[Carroll Courtney]

Do you get the feelin that we are getting herded into a new direction, lots of first times last couple yrs. Being like Alan Jackson, doing lot of front porch setting.

[Robert Mayer]

It may take till the end of the year, but as vaccines roll out factories will be running 100% again. Lumber prices might still be crazy with a building boom, but everything else will probably calm down.

[Roger Feeley]

I stopped by Keim Lumber in Charm OH recently on the recommendation of someone here on the Creek. I bought some Hickory, Maple, Walnut and Cherry for upcoming projects. I was surprised at at how cheap it was. I’m thinking that the boom in construction material prices hasn’t hit the domestic hardwoods so much. Either that or I need to go to Keim more often.

BTW, that’s a really, really nice lumber yard. And driving past all those Amish farms was a joy.

[Andrew More]

I’m thinking that the boom in construction material prices hasn’t hit the domestic hardwoods so much. Either that or I need to go to Keim more often.
Same with my local yard in Indiana. I would usually build a bench out of southern yellow pine, since it's the cheapest, but with 2x12s hitting ~$2 a bf it made more sense to go with hard maple instead. FWIW, the "stump price", which is the price to cut down a tree, has not increased. Rather a lot of the added cost appears to be a supply bottle neck at the sawmills. I'm expecting the prices of lumber to start decreasing, though I also don't expect them to go back to "normal", rather I'd expect a new high above the old price, but not at the stratospheric rates we have been seeing. I had no idea if this will effect hardwood prices, since they're related, but not the same thing.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

The profit is being made by whoever has older inventory to sell for these prices. Any on the list to some extent. And all the levels of government collecting all that sales tax on the now more expensive everything.

[Rick Potter]

It's not stopping either. I was amazed two weeks ago, when HD had 7/16" OSB for $53 a sheet. Yesterday I found it at the same store for $64.

Sure glad we don't have inflation starting up. :rolleyes:

[Alan Lightstone]

I'm dying to build an outdoor table for my balcony, but keep putting it off because the prices are crazy. And it would use a whole bunch of white oak.

I read an interesting article that builders are stopping building houses, because no one will sign a contract saying that the price of your new house is, "We have no idea. Could be double what we originally told you." One article said that lumber prices have gone up 340% over the past year. NAHB found that soaring lumber costs have added $35,872 to the average price of a new home, and they are worried that millennials will be put off on house buying due to the increased costs. But thankfully there isn't any inflation. We know there isn't - the administration said so.

A friend of mine just closed on a townhouse that the contracted price was set two years ago. The builder told him he took a bath on it. I cringe when I think of how many corners he must have cut trying to salvage his bottom line.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I'm dying to build an outdoor table for my balcony, but keep putting it off because the prices are crazy. And it would use a whole bunch of white oak.

I read an interesting article that builders are stopping building houses, because no one will sign a contract saying that the price of your new house is, "We have no idea. Could be double what we originally told you." One article said that lumber prices have gone up 340% over the past year. NAHB found that soaring lumber costs have added $35,872 to the average price of a new home, and they are worried that millennials will be put off on house buying due to the increased costs. But thankfully there isn't any inflation. We know there isn't - the administration said so.

A friend of mine just closed on a townhouse that the contracted price was set two years ago. The builder told him he took a bath on it. I cringe when I think of how many corners he must have cut trying to salvage his bottom line.

yea this is definitely not inflation, lol!... Prices are so volatile that my quotes are only good for one week on some projects.

[gary rosema]

The tree cutters are getting screwed the price of buying logs has not increased to justify lumber prices !

[Curt Harms]

Mortgages have gotten significantly cheaper, hence the demand for building materials.

Real Estate is a time honored hedge against inflation also.