What the heck happened to prices ?

[jiho]

Not as much lumber comes from out here as you might think. 40 years ago this area of Northern California was a major logging hub. Not anymore. Almost all of it was lost to Canadian imports. Ironically though when I bought some 2x4s at the local Home Depot they were marked as coming from an outfit still logging in WA. But I doubt the fires have found much activity to make a dent in. Certainly nothing like say 60 years ago.

There have been proposals to allow companies in to thin out the fuel, but I don't know that all that much has actually happened on that front.

And of all the ironies, what happens with the little activity there is left ....

Logging truck catches fire after crash in eastern Shasta County

Wednesday 10:50 a.m.Reports were recvieved of a confrimed fatality

krcrtv.com

 

[Kamloops cutlass]

Do you own a pickup and trailer ?
For cedar go to small private mills and order direct , it’s cheaper and the quality is usually higher
Also talk to some door builders rather than big box lumberyard
As a career journeyman carpenter , at 54 years old I’m only now getting paid what I’m worth , people complaining about what we make need to take a step back and look what it costs YOU to live comfortably and realize these tradesmen need to buy tools and fuel etc all of which has skyrocketed in price
Even our clothes get worn out faster than regular folks clothes
Construction is often feast or famine , it’s just our turn at the buffet , give us some elbow room ;-)

 

[Hurricane77]

I don't think you can point to any one thing right now. COVID has had a significant impact on things. China's "Zero COVID" policy is a big part of it. While the rest of the world is mostly moving on and just dealing with it, China is still massively quarantining people and shutting down factories. That's having a massive impact on global supply chains. It's basic economics after that. Supply has shrunk, demand is the same - if not higher and prices have gone through the roof for some things.

On the construction side of things too, COVID had an impact. All of the sudden people are stuck at home and everyone decided to upgrade their deck, redo their fence, get a hot tub or pool etc. at the same time when the availability of people to do that work has become limited. And that availability is two fold, first companies not being allowed to work because of COVID regulations (initially, not being deemed 'essential' and now people being off sick due to infection), and second we've been telling kids for 50 years, "If you want a good job you need to go to college/university and get a degree". So now we have a trades shortage in many sectors. This was an issue long before COVID, it's just become worse.

And now you've got labor shortages. Anecdotally, you keep hearing, "People don't want to work. They'd rather sit and collect unemployment". But the statistics are indicating that it's anything but. At least here, we're dealing with record low unemployment along with record high participation rate (percent of population either employed or actively looking for work). Retirements are up as well. With companies screaming for employees, who wants to work a crappy retail job, or work in a restaurant dealing with Karens all day for close to minimum wage? The result here is that the services sector is losing workers at a pretty high rate, but employment in the goods producing sectors (i.e manufacturing) is up. And that's largely because the manufacturing sector seems willing to pay premiums over minimum wage along with benefits etc. The jobs are there if one wants it. And they're reasonable paying.

But then wages in general have not kept pace with the cost of living. Housing has gone haywire (though it's improving). Inflation is as high as it's been in 40-50 years. We spend a much higher percentage of our wages on essentials than we did in the past.

 

[69hurstolds]

Do you own a pickup and trailer ?
For cedar go to small private mills and order direct , it’s cheaper and the quality is usually higher
Also talk to some door builders rather than big box lumberyard
As a career journeyman carpenter , at 54 years old I’m only now getting paid what I’m worth , people complaining about what we make need to take a step back and look what it costs YOU to live comfortably and realize these tradesmen need to buy tools and fuel etc all of which has skyrocketed in price
Even our clothes get worn out faster than regular folks clothes
Construction is often feast or famine , it’s just our turn at the buffet , give us some elbow room ;-)

Don't know your skills, but just like all trades, there are the good ones, and then there's the shady ones that detract from the good ones. And you know the ones I'm talking about. It's like auto mechanics. You have those you trust, and those you won't let change a spark plug on your lawn mower.

Nobody complains about the price if it's upfront, and they agree to it, and then the construction crew lives up to their promise. Value for the money spent. It's when you pay for gold after they promised to deliver the gold, but get bronze instead. That's when it sucks. Not enough fasteners, sheetrock wall parades (the ones that wave at you), sh*t ain't level, cut corners, both figuratively and literally, the "good enough" mentality some of the folks have. You could be the greatest carpenter in the world, but that doesn't matter. The experiences I've had with many professional trades has me shaking my head sometimes. You can get quality work or crappy work, and pay nearly the same for it. So it's tough to find the ones you can trust to do the job right. Your skills are only as good as your worst person on the crew.

I don't care who you are or what trade you're in. If you want money thrown at you, provide high quality work consistently and your phone won't stop ringing. I know you didn't mean it this way, but sorry, I'm in the camp of nobody deserves it just because one thinks "it's their turn" at the trough.

 

[Kamloops cutlass]

Don't know your skills, but just like all trades, there are the good ones, and then there's the shady ones that detract from the good ones. And you know the ones I'm talking about. It's like auto mechanics. You have those you trust, and those you won't let change a spark plug on your lawn mower.

Nobody complains about the price if it's upfront, and they agree to it, and then the construction crew lives up to their promise. Value for the money spent. It's when you pay for gold after they promised to deliver the gold, but get bronze instead. That's when it sucks. Not enough fasteners, sheetrock wall parades (the ones that wave at you), sh*t ain't level, cut corners, both figuratively and literally, the "good enough" mentality some of the folks have. You could be the greatest carpenter in the world, but that doesn't matter. The experiences I've had with many professional trades has me shaking my head sometimes. You can get quality work or crappy work, and pay nearly the same for it. So it's tough to find the ones you can trust to do the job right. Your skills are only as good as your worst person on the crew.

I don't care who you are or what trade you're in. If you want money thrown at you, provide high quality work consistently and your phone won't stop ringing. I know you didn't mean it this way, but sorry, I'm in the camp of nobody deserves it just because one thinks "it's their turn" at the trough.

You know I didn’t mean
It like that but Youll deliberately misconstrue my sentiment because You have something to say .. lol
It’s my turn at the trough , careful you don’t get bit in the feeding frenzy
And yeah I do quality work , now people have to pay for it
Or they can build their own damn camp
🙂

 

[Supercharged111]

And yeah I do quality work , now people have to pay for it
Or they can build their own damn house
🙂

And that's exactly what I intend to do.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

And that's exactly what I intend to do.

 

[jiho]

For cedar go to small private mills and order direct , it’s cheaper and the quality is usually higher

Not a lot of mills of any size or affiliation left down here in the States. What I'm sayin' ....

 

[Supercharged111]

Pretty much.

'cept it's screw you guys I'm building my home.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Stirring this one up because this is probably the most related topic..

Not sure what everybody's hobbies are but my hobbies include other things besides cars, and I've watched the prices on them go up significantly because people think everything is worth gold right now no matter if it's good or junk. I'm sure we've all seen it so this is nothing new. Reasoning is just chasing that money.

The amusing part to me, I'm right now 3 for 3 trying to message somebody on Facebook marketplace to buy something they are selling, I ask for more pictures because I'm not wasting gas to go and see it when we have modern technology that is capable of sending pictures, I get a response of "yeah I'll send you some more here in a little bit", never hear anything back and the item is still for sale. I mean a couple days too, never get anything back.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around that one. We have devolved into a society where people are that lazy. They want you to give them your money but they can't even pony up the effort to take a simple picture of said item. 3 for 3 this week in a row. I would have given them full price too if the item was in as good shape as I've seen. Some people hate money I guess.

I understand the hassle of trying to sell something dealing with the 95% of tire kickers that just bs around with you, why I purged my extra stuff so I don't have to deal with people in general. However I'm not that type, I have money in my hand wanting to buy I carry through.