Construction price rises

I was talking to a chap yesterday and a contractor he knows has a job and limit of £3k for materials (wood) - he bought half then went back a few weeks later and it had gone up by £500'

I also bought what I thought would be at max £75 worth of roof battens and lengths of 4x4 - came to £140

It also seems wood for logging has gone up £10 a ton in the last week.
 
The timber situation is truly unbelievable, I am in the process of passing on an material increase for TR26 that is basically 50% this is after an increase of about 30% last quarter. Which is resulting in overall increases never heard of in our industry.

Even sawn timber and sheets for bracing have basically doubled in price in the last 6 months and are in very short supply

So in am now having to tell people who's designs I did around July last year their price has over doubled which has resulted in abuse from a number of customers.

What's worrying is the general feeling if expect a similar increase again next quarter ATM.
 
As a Quantity Surveyor it’s a nightmare at the moment, luckily nothing I do is fixed to the actual construction work that’s someone else’s problem I only report and price.

Simple skirting on one job went from 2.50 to 4.50 a lm which when you have to buy enough for 400 apartments is fairly painful.

Decent carpenters want £300 a day, bricklayers same. Labourers now £120 a day.

Concrete reinforcement was £450 a tonne last year now £780, again if you had won a job and fixed at £450 and you need thousands of tonnes of rebar it’s crippling.
 
What is the general feeling from you guys in the industry?

Are we likely to see prices become steady and start to fall again at some point?
 
ZG002 said:
What is the general feeling from you guys in the industry?

Are we likely to see prices become steady and start to fall again at some point?
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Always the same, easy to go up, long and painful to go down. We are into a long period of inflation and short supply. My guess is considerable increases still to come. Money is cheap no one really cares they’ll just keep paying. The only loser is the average joe who’s income isn’t linked at all to inflation, they will be left behind with spiralling costs.
 
Agreed. I can see rises increasing or at least staying high for the rest of the year. Whether it goes back down next year depends on whether the demand says as high and if it becomes the new normal or not.
 
Maccapacca said:
As a Quantity Surveyor it’s a nightmare at the moment, luckily nothing I do is fixed to the actual construction work that’s someone else’s problem I only report and price.

Simple skirting on one job went from 2.50 to 4.50 a lm which when you have to buy enough for 400 apartments is fairly painful.

Decent carpenters want £300 a day, bricklayers same. Labourers now £120 a day.

Concrete reinforcement was £450 a tonne last year now £780, again if you had won a job and fixed at £450 and you need thousands of tonnes of rebar it’s crippling.
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What's your view on the cause?

Is it simple supply and demand?
 
We have been extremely fortunate in the timing of out almost complete extension / new kitchen.

Two weeks or so left - floor to screed and Kay (all here) then the kicthen to fit (ordered and on its way) snagging and done.

We started about 10.5 weeks ago and have had (but missed the worst of it):

Steel price increase
Timber price increase (and lack of availability in some sizes)
Cement and concrete availability issues
Tile batten availability / price increases
Tile (rosemary) availability

Hearing the prices are going up and some / most of the above becoming harder to get and / or longer lead in times

I'm also in the industry and some clients at certain stages of projects are in for some nasty surprises when the tenders come back or we need to revise cost plans

As above - any recovery will be long, slow and may not fully get back to where it was - it never really does
 
It's clearly a global issue but why is timber supply atleast not catching up? Afterall how hard is it to go saw down some trees, cut it up, dry it & sell it?? Would heave expected someone to be chasing these profits.

EDIT looks like it is actually; lumber futures currently $900, down from May highs of ~$1600: https://uk.investing.com/commodities/lumber
 
Tom_ed1987 said:
It's clearly a global issue but why is timber supply atleast not catching up? Afterall how hard is it to go saw down some trees, cut it up, dry it & sell it?? Would heave expected someone to be chasing these profits.

EDIT looks like it is actually; lumber futures currently $900, down from May highs of ~$1600: https://uk.investing.com/commodities/lumber
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The supply chain is heavily managed, simply going and chopping some trees down would be illegal in most countries, logging has to be sustainable.
 
200sols said:
The supply chain is heavily managed, simply going and chopping some trees down would be illegal in most countries, logging has to be sustainable.
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Demand is really high, there isn’t a great deal of point ramping up production in the short term to then go quiet next year. It’s not good for quality, safety and planning.
 
Maccapacca said:
Demand is really high, there isn’t a great deal of point ramping up production in the short term to then go quiet next year. It’s not good for quality, safety and planning.
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Just got a QS to reprice a housing development for me. Gone from 8mill late last year to 10 now plus he reckons another 10% for coming rises.
I already had the land, so that is some comfort. Not sure the banks will even bite at the moment though. I can see things going on hold soon.
 
Slightly gutted about all this. We just got the keys to our two-bed terrace with a view to converting the loft asap for a third (main) bedroom and ensuite. We didn't particularly like the way any houses on the street(s) had done theirs and they were generally going for £120k ish more than unconverted houses. After the loft gets done we're aiming to open up the dining room and kitchen, and being that the house is generally more shabby than the aforementioned converted/spruced up ones we do have a bit of plastering/electrics/paining to do too. I do hope we're not going to end up paying more than that price difference for all of our work. We could have borrowed more and not had to put up with the work! :(

That said, we always went in with the intention that this is our first home, we always wanted to do the work ourselves (having never been able to on rented places). And because it's usually the best way to spend your money. Hmn!
 
ash_scotland88 said:
Roofer has said that tile battens are up 100% and he's had to put on pause some gutter repair work for us due to unavailability of supplies.

Took us weeks of watching national chain websites to get a few bags of cement for a small garden project.
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Oddly I have heard that cement issues are due to a fire at one of the largest producers of the bags they use!
 
Yup I have a koi pond that I'm wanting to finish.. a 3m^3 pour will be about £800. Then it's about 600-700 concrete blocks..

A shipment of ply from the US, a US company paid $ more and the shipment basically turned around at the port. So the global market is a bit crazy atm.
 
the price of materials is already going down in the states
guess it should be similar here
After climbing to historic heights this spring, lumber prices are headed back down—fast. Last week the cash price per thousand board feet of lumber fell $211 to $1,113, according to industry trade publication Random Lengths. That's down 27% from its $1,515 all-time high on May 28.
"We are in a free fall," Andy Goodman, CEO of Sherwood Lumber, told Fortune. In the lumber futures market, prices are down even more—dropping 47% since going above $1,700 on May 10.
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Thought this might be relevant. We had an email through from Howdens saying that their prices of timber were going up 40per cent this Monday coming!
 
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