Recently came into possession of dozens of receipts for lumber and supplies my dad paid for when building our house in 49 when I was 3. Interestingly, back then, softwood was sold by the board foot. Price for twelve 16 foot long #1 s4s 1x4 yellow pine cost $9.60. That's .15 cents a board foot. #2 2x fir was .075 cents per board foot and 350 fir 2x4 8 foot studs (1865 bf) cost dad $140.03. #2 yellow pine was slightly more than fir at .08 cents per bf.
Kegs of 8d and 16d common nails were $10.00. Keg was a hundred pounds. Sacks of masonary cement were .88 cents and 30 of them came to $26.40. 40 tie down bolts came to $4.80. It all seems so cheap but in 1949 the average wage was about $3000 and I suspect dad wasn't far from that. Total from the lumber yard was $2600. No idea about plumbing, cabinets, etc. Dad paid cash and he must have saved and planned for a long time to build our modest 3 bedroom 1 bath home in Arkansas.
life has certainly changed in the past 70 years. Nostalgic post off.