I got a real shock when I ordered a piece of plastic laminate from the local building supply. Cost was way up. Ditto the contact cement. Also oak plywood. Salesman said that lumber and roofing metal were also going up.
Is anyone else seeing this trend?
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by getting closer to way less work and more retirement I've relegated my material costing to calling rather than memory or files. It's the only realistic approach anymore.
yeah...
Me too. Plus the less volume you have the more it hurts to under estimate.....
They gotta get the money for the fence from SOMEWHERE.
HQ at the lumberyard I work at sent out a notice last week that lumber is going up 25 to 50%.
We've also gotten price increase notices on windows, doors, steel, shingles, drywall, and probably other things I can't think of right now.
Maybe it's a side effect of the economy getting better?
Yikes
rather a large price increase for general lumber, no?
I ain no economist but
seems like it would have to be more than just supply and demand when all those different products go up at once.
I kind of wonder if suppliers aren't anticipating an increase in import tariffs. Even stuff that isn't imported is apt to go up as demand for US stuff increases (or is expected to) when imported is not available.
maybe...
My guess is it may be a combination of several things of which that could be one. That's how perfect storms start.
I haven't seen it on stuff I buy on a regular basis at all but if I go get something I haven't bought in several years the increases seem steep. Do you buy laminate often?
I don't buy a lot of anything any more....
I didn't buy any last year, last time was 2015 when basic formica brand was $2.2 sq ft. Seems like [fwiw] memory puts it about $1+ around 2002 with steady but slow increases to that cost. Last sheet was $4.59 per sq ft. It was some of wilson art's higher end but still..... So there is no science in my rant as I haven't done much comparison shopping. Looks like the box stores still have it priced ok in the in stock stuff but in the past they weren't very competitive if you custom ordered.
Oak plywood [3/4 and 1/4] is up a fair bit at both local and box sources from last year. Also 1/4 luan.
Are you charging more than you did in 2002 or @014? Lol! I can't keep up. My electrician bumps his prices about $2.50 an hour every year and my plumber isn't far behind. If I raise my prices by a buck an hour my customers start screaming.