LINDON – Demand is not the only thing that increases the cost of a new home. According to a national analysis, the prices of timber out of control added tens of thousands of dollars to the construction price.
“It’s a unique and unprecedented moment,” said Caleb Williams, manager of the Lindon location in Burton Lumber. “It’s a volatile market that changes almost daily.”
Williams said he is just as surprised that his customers see the rising cost of lumber.
“We’ve never seen anything like it and we never expected it,” he said.
Since April 2020, rising timber prices have raised the price of a new single-family home by $ 24,386, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
VIDEO: “This is three times the price for a 2×4”
Home builders and buyers are shocked at the price of timber
“I don’t believe myself”
NEXT on @ KSL5TV in an Inaccessible #Utah report you see how rising prices add thousands to the cost of a new home @kslnewsradio@KSLcompic.twitter.com/Hrc66v2uEG
– Ladd Egan (@laddegan) March 18, 2021
“I’ve been in (industry) for 25 years and there’s never been a big leap like that,” Daniel McArthur told Pine Canyon Homes.
McArthur said he finished a lot of basements in Utah County and that customers don’t believe him when he tells them about the current price of framing goods.
“It was forever like two or three dollars for a 2 × 4 pin,” he said. “Now it’s like seven dollars – that’s three times the price for a 2 × 4.”
McArthur said families are saving money for finishing basements, and by the time they are ready to begin construction, the price has changed. He often ends up sharing the price increase with his customers.
“It’s a great success for both of us,” he said.
“Those that have doubled in the last year”
Timber prices are rising and changing daily.
“We’ve never seen anything like it and we never expected it.”
Take a look now @ KSL5TV at 18:00 pic.twitter.com/EkOcFg2BEY
– Ladd Egan (@laddegan) March 18, 2021
The association, along with other housing groups, last week sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce requesting an examination of the timber supply chain.
“It is easy to see that current prices are an intolerable and often insurmountable financial burden for home builders and contractors,” the letter said.
The letter also called on the Commerce Department to find ways to increase timber production.
“Home builders and construction firms that have signed fixed-price contracts are forced to absorb these crippling increases in material prices and costly delays in deliveries; there is a significant risk that many of these firms will be forced to give up business,” the letter said. , from March 12, continued to say.
Housing construction groups blamed rising “demand for housing better than expected” during the pandemic and “unprecedented” Do-it-yourself activity
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Ladd Egan