On 5/5/2021 2:04 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:


I *just* got off the phone with a friend that had house built recently.

They signed the deal in February 2020, just before Covid hit. The build started in
August of 2020 but they were luckily locked in at the February number.

They were talking to the builder last month when he started construction on a
house in the next lot over. I don't know the price of either house but I do know
that the builder told my friend that the new build is a couple of hundred square
feet smaller but was costing $36K more than her house. He also told them that
he didn't know the exact number, but if he had charged them what he should have
in August, it would have easily added $15K to their cost. The profit he made on her
house was significantly impacted. The builder said that the lumber shortage is
the cause of the increase.

No one will sell him huge stacks of lumber like he used to buy. He used to buy
in "bulk" for a better price and store it for future builds. Now he's being told that
if they fulfill large orders, they will have to say "No" to other clients and risk loosing
them as customers when things settle down. That means that the builders are
being hit twice. Once because of the price increase of the material itself and
again because they can't get the same bulk pricing that they got on the larger
orders. That problems works it way back up the supply chain so everyone is
being impacted.

She also mentioned that friends of theirs had been working with an architect on
a renovation project. They are still in the design phase, so no orders have been
placed. They just put the project on hold due the high cost of lumber and how it
was driving the price way beyond their budget.


Bought my house and closed in December 2018. They started at $230 but
by the time we added the options it was $270 + the lot. The equivalent
new model now starts in the low $300s, plus options.

Looks like the same house is about $70k more than three years ago. Seem
to be selling well too.