Ouch - Timber frame price up £4,600 between design and manufacture

[Dave Schulz]

That's what I'm fearful of. It's important to watch costs closely and do what you can yourself. Shouldn't be in a rush under these uncertain circumstances.

 

 

[jack]

On 27/05/2021 at 11:50, PeterTweeter said:

I've been told by a local timber supplier that Canadian mills can't meet the US demand, so they (the US) are buying from the Scandinavian & Baltic mills at premium prices.

The UK are getting the leftovers - if we're lucky!

 

Just had a conversation with a builder friend last night and he's been told exactly the same thing.

 

He's also seeing monthly price rises in some materials, typically of the order of 10%.

 

Steels have gone up 80% for him over a few months.

 

His usual oak supplier wasn't able to fulfill an order he recently tried to make until January.

 

[Dreadnaught]

Yes, I have seen the same with my timber frame. My foundation raft is complete and so the site is in a stable state to sit and wait. I have told my timber frame company to only buy materials at sensible prices and that I will be willing to wait. Who knows how long I will have to wait.

[Ferdinand]

On 26/05/2021 at 22:08, Thedreamer said:

Lumber | 1978-2021 Data | 2022-2023 Forecast | Price | Quote | Chart | Historical (tradingeconomics.com)

 

 

That graph now says lumber prices have gone back down again by nearly half.

 

[ToughButterCup]

22 hours ago, jack said:

Just had a conversation with a builder ... last night and he's been told exactly the same thing.

...

 

Talking to the same builders as me then? Its a shame for everyone starting out now: I feel really sorry for them all. I mean its not like self building is easy is it.....

[Ralph]

I did hear a rumour that now that West Fraser own Norbord all their production from the OSB mill up near Inverness is going to North America.

I have also spoken to a couple of small builders who have stopped taking on projects and are subbing for the bigger outfits until the situation improves. 

[Mr Punter]

23 hours ago, jack said:

Steels have gone up 80% for him over a few months.

 

Steel rebar has fallen around 18% from the peak in May 2021.  I think there is some profiteering going on over here!

[jack]

5 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Steel rebar has fallen around 18% from the peak in May 2021.  I think there is some profiteering going on over here!

 

To be fair, it's still June. No idea what he has on the go at the minute, but perhaps he hasn't ordered any steel since May?

[DragsterDriver]

I’m assured timber is coming down in time

for my build, the bulk price is falling apparently. 
 

having said that work is a PITA at the moment- travis have no osb in any thickness ??‍♂️

[nod]

On 30/05/2021 at 10:10, recoveringbuilder said:

I get the feeling that a lot of would be self builders aren’t aware of the price rises, all the plots around here that have sat on the market for a few years are now being snapped up. Personally wouldn’t like to be starting a build just now, when the crash comes a lot of these houses will have cost more than they’re worth!

It’s all relative 

If your not looking to sell on quickly

Prices always bounce back 

It’s the builders that are taking a chance As soon as the economy slows The banks will pull the plug 

We’ve just finished plastering and framing a project that had stood for twelve years 

32 flats and houses in the Lake District 

The guy who originally owned the site now lives in a guest house in Windermere 

Riches to Rags 

[scottishjohn]

my local BM told me today when I bought some more cement ,and they only have 30 bags,before me taking 6 , left till at least 2 weeks that weld mesh for founds has gone from £30 to £40 a sheet  and is short supply 

 

 

[Temp]

According to their web site Wickes Northampton and Peterborough each have 450+ bags of general purpose cement in stock but its "Not available on click and collect". Presumably its all spoken for but might be worth a try if anyone desperate.

 

[ToughButterCup]

On 28/05/2021 at 15:45, Bitpipe said:

 

Guy who did our landscaping has branched into mini digger hire.

 

Leased 5 new machines a year ago with his business partner and kept one in a container 'box fresh' while hiring the other 4 out as his contingency.

 

He says it's shot up in value and he is sorely tempted to sell.

 

Ditto in darkest flatlands of the Fylde, West Lancashire . Where tattered Brexit and St George flags and warm beer are most common.  And farmers who moan like there's no tomorrow...

 

Ah'm mekkin proper mune fer 't fust tahm lad, proper mune..

 

He's a mate of mine. Can he hire me a machine?

 

Can 'ee fook.

 

[PeterW]

43 minutes ago, Temp said:

According to their web site Wickes Northampton and Peterborough each have 450+ bags of general purpose cement in stock but its "Not available on click and collect". Presumably its all spoken for but might be worth a try if anyone desperate.

 

Nope.. this is also due to the stupid rules Wickes have brought in about their staff and manual handling of anything 25kg or over. If it can’t be picked by one person, you can’t have it .. 

[Omi]

Hi everyone, what's the price trend on timber at the moment? Our project was last requoted at the peak back in May so wondering whether it's worth asking for the quote to be updated again. Our current quote is still valid for when it goes to manufacture. What we don't want is for it to come back even higher...

[AndyFExtension]

Here is the lumber futures price. Still way above where it was 15months ago but down from historical highs… also retail doesn’t perfectly match this commodity price either!

 

so it doesn’t answer your question but I would imagine your price will be lagging the recent price reduction… stick or twist?!

Edited July 6, 2021 by AndyFExtension

[Omi]

2 minutes ago, AndyFExtension said:

Here is the lumber futures price. Still way above where it was 15months ago but down from historical highs… also retail doesn’t perfectly match this commodity price either!

 

Yes, I have been watching the futures prices for a while now but it's unclear whether that's being reflected in the retail just yet. That's the insight I'm looking for.

[Bramco]

I posted this one the materials price thread.

 

40% drop in timber prices in the US in June -> https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/30/lumber-prices-dive-more-than-40percent-in-june-biggest-monthly-drop-on-record.html

 

So patience may be needed.

 

All being well our TF goes up in August - just hope the wood is already in stock at the manufacturers.....

[AndyFExtension]

My non scientific “real world” test is the price of 18mm osb at wickes.

 

last year it was £25 it’s now £45.

[Ralph]

I would be surprised if it comes down very much by Sept / October. From what I've read Inventories were down 30%+ before COVID and sawmills are underinvested. Housing demand will still be high and lumber companies are going to start spending on upgrades.

[Moonshine]

37 minutes ago, AndyFExtension said:

My non scientific “real world” test is the price of 18mm osb at wickes.

 

last year it was £25 it’s now £45.

 

i might actually write a python script to webscrap the price changes over times (though i can't go back)

[Ferdinand]

30 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

 

i might actually write a python script to webscrap the price changes over times (though i can't go back)

 

That's quite good.

 

I might get a screenshot every week and print it out ? .

[Moonshine]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

I might get a screenshot every week and print it out ? .

 

here is my attempt

 

Quote

from selenium import webdriver
import datetime
import pandas

config_file='G:/price comparison scraper/Price_scraper_config.csv'

df = pandas.read_csv(config_file)
df.info

number_of_items = len(df)
#print(number_of_items)

browser = webdriver.Chrome()        # load the target webpage into webdriver.

website = df['Website']
store = df['Store']

for x in range(number_of_items):

    url = website[x]
    store_actual = store[x]
    print(url)
    print(store_actual)

    browser.get(url)

    if store_actual == 'Wickes':
        price_class = browser.find_element_by_class_name("pdp-price__new-price")

    if store_actual == 'B&Q':
        price_class = browser.find_element_by_css_selector('[data-test-id="product-primary-price"]')

    price = price_class.text
    print("price - {0}".format(price))

browser.close()         #when all search pages returned and URL's found close and quit ChromeDriver
browser.quit()

 

this reads in a csv file with the products, the store and the web address, looks them up scraps the price data off and displays them.

 

It gives me this output

 

Quote

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-General-Purpose-Oriented-Standard-Board-3-OSB-3---18-x-1220-x-2440mm/p/110517
Wickes
price - £45
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Blue-Circle-General-Purpose-Cement---25kg/p/224661
Wickes
price - £4.15
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Studwork-CLS-Timber---38-x-89-x-2400mm/p/107713
Wickes
price - £10.45

 

I need to get it working for B&Q and any other shop that want to add, next task is to save the prices to a CSV, that is appended from the last time the program was run.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Moonshine

[Omi]

5 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

this reads in a csv file with the products, the store and the web address, looks them up scraps the price data off and displays them.

 

What's the CSV file structure?

[Bramco]

chronic sorting version

 

Come on -  someone can do better than that!!