Today’s headline:

Builders cannot finish their homes due to material shortages. Asking inspectors for leniency to provide occupancy permits without garage doors, gutters, etc.

Overall const materials have increased by 18.8% Nov ‘22 over Nov ‘21.

I expected a higher number.

WHEN we can find it, we buy extra...

We look WAY ahead on our flips on what we will need ad get it coming if it's not in stock.

In stock? We buy it and warehouse it

Our favorite local supplier does a good job in helping keep us up to date. Hey, spend $20k with them and got a free shirt (long sleeves) this Christmas!! lol

Roy, If Lowes has what you want, you might be able to get them to Ship to Store additional quantities, or, if there are quite a few Lowes in your area, use the Change Store feature on their website to see which Lowes stores have more.

You probably already knew about this, but just in case .....

Busy,

I learned years ago never to allow Lowes or HD employees choose my lumber. 1/3 of it will be twisted, crooked, excessive knots, etc. This is a job I have to do myself. Lowes does deliver but if the ground is wet like it is now, they will dump the lumber on the driveway which is NOT where I need it. My town has one Lowes store and the closest HD is 40 miles away. I do have a small storage shed and anything I have left over will end up there.

We're blessed with the quantity available for most materials that go into fixing. I wouldn't want to imagine being stuck waiting to sell a house because I couldn't get gutters.

18% seems low to me too, but still high. Costs are far outpacing wages and rents even. Folks who aren't raising rents now are going to look up in 2025 and wonder why their income won't buy half what it did in 2022. I'm considering this year doing my first ever "added" rent bump: our lease has an automatic 2.9% rent increase if we do nothing, but we have the option to request more or non-renew. I'm bumping turnovers by 10-15%. Might as well do the same with renewals. Where are they going to go? Everywhere else is at least as expensive if not higher. Downsize or stay are the only options.

I haven't got a functional crystal ball, but I think we're going to see a lot more older houses falling into disrepair as cheapskate land lord who fail to raise rents find themselves unable to purchase the supplies or hire the labor to get the job done. This will further shrink an already low housing supply, pushing rent and values up. I'm hanging on, for now. Commercial looks tempting though: those big metal boxes with concrete floors last 50+ years with little to no maintenance other than routine checks on the HVAC and water heater.

Oh, definitely agree about letting the stores choose it. Yeah, Ship to Store could be touchy. I’d standing there going through their pile, returning half of it. Probably doubly, because as a short Grandma, they’d think they could pawn that junk off on me!

At the beginning of the pandemic, I raised my 10% drop calculations to 30%. All unused wood was put in storage. Even built a storage frame under a overhang roof, to keep it off the ground and dry. Now I have my own little lumber yard. Great when I only need one/two boards. But if I need more than two, I go to the store and buy what I need, plus 30% drop. 20% gets put into storage.

Often I've thought of getting a duplex, renting one unit to a tenant, then using the other for storage/ workshop/ break room facilities. Having the tenant in one unit would help with security, also helps with expenses. Back in, oh, 2012-2014, a duplex could be had for almost less than a SFH. So, for those of you expanding your empire, that might be a solution.

Tenant would have benefit of not having neighbors overhead in the evening. In my neighborhoods, I'd use the upper unit for my space. More hauling, but, a pulley system to the upper level could work well. As a farm kid, I've seen plenty of those. Thieves are lazy/opportunists upper level might be too much trouble for them. (And i wouldn't need to go to the gym! Lol!)

My own little lumber yard strikes again :-)

Maintenance noticed some questionable deck boards at a property.

Oh, Mike! I am sorry to hear that. Goes to show we need critical supplies made right here in North America ( not leaving you out, our northern neighbors!) And really, good for any country to have self-reliance on critical goods.

Speaking of critical supplies, we just got signed up to donate BLOOD tomorrow. Im a fairly frequent donor, but blood center screwed up my last scheduled appointment, so i haven't donated since summer. My husband rarely donates, but he signed us both up.

It seems to be about 30%-35% more to build a house today then in 2019.

For example I just got a load of sheet rock, with a few boxes of screws. It was $4,309 delivered. I just looked up the same house that I did in the winter of 19/20, I paid $2,737.

I keep a one car garage at one of my properties for lumber and storage. I got a great start years ago when my friend closed his carpentry shop. I took the racks and a lot of the supplies. I still have not run out of sandpaper, lol. at another place I have a bonus room with appliances.

Getting lumber hasn't been an issue since last summer, the price has! My lumber yard has plenty of material.

Just got back from ordering windows.

Currently a 22-week wait... for windows that are built within 30 minutes of where I bought them.

Also, very much not cheap. It wasn't my usual guy, so I don't know if someone upsold me and I didn't catch it, or if materials had really risen that much, or if I just have more windows than I usually do. (A 1/1 duplex, 16 windows total, $7k after tax.)

Nope. It's probably another $250-$500 for the installation, which is my handyguy.

When I get a chance, I'll dig through my files to see if I got upsold or if I bought the same thing I always get. But it works out to about $375-$450-$500/window, depending on the size and such.

I bought a house years back to completely rehab. Got all the internals tore out and decided it would be a good place to store stuff.

1.5 story plus a 24x30 barn with a half loft.