Reply With QuoteI went to a local timber merchant to buy wood for a new gate, he said he had very little stock of the mainstream wood he uses and it would be 6 weeks before he was expecting a delivery.
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
Over the last few months, the prices of timber for simple carpentry work have doubled here in the Netherlands. Apparently, according to carpenter/vlogger Scott Brown on YT there's a shortage of timber in New Zealand and Australia.
Why?
Did you notice a similar development in the UK?
I went to a local timber merchant to buy wood for a new gate, he said he had very little stock of the mainstream wood he uses and it would be 6 weeks before he was expecting a delivery.
Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves
My in laws are trying to get garden fencing and have been told there is a long lead time for it.
Cheers..
Jase
Global shipping costs are one of the biggest factors in lack of availability, some of the European producers have had bad winters (EXCEPTIONALLY WARM) so logging machinery has not been able to access the forests to get raw material. South American producers have been selling nearly everything to the USA at high levels, hence making it not cost effective for UK importers to purchase from South America.
Plywood prices are also through the roof and the current costs for import have not even been close to being passed onto the end user at the moment, its all going to get more expensive and in demand.
Its probably now cheaper to build a house out of bricks than it is timber!
I'm in the global plywood and timber business, so in a good position to know.
A tradesman I use a lot for maintenance on my properties and business is very reliable and skilled, but always loves telling me a story which I take with a pinch of salt. Normally he’s heard half a story and probably adds some imagination to complete it!
Anyway the other day he was telling me one of the big building merchants had a ship load of timber arrive at the UK port and they got called by their seller to say that they weren’t getting it as another merchant had agreed to pay a lot more. Seemed total rubbish to me at the time but maybe .....
We have been experiencing sporadic supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures over the last twelve months in our industry, more so than we would usually expect but it was inevitable given how manufacturers ceased last spring. Coupled with Brexit and an unprecedented growing of the the construction sector (well mine) we are in for funny ole few months.
Regards timber prices these are only being held for seven days at most. Don’t get me started on bricks, tiles and insulation.
Pitch
Ours have increased twice so far this year, and the range our supplier stocks has dropped, there busy though, normally 2-3 days for delivery and we were quoted a minimum two weeks with our last order, thankfully this put a stop on me building a new shed this week on a week off as I couldn’t get the timber in time.
Timber is much more expensive according to the carpenter we use (and have used for years). The wood for our new carport was a third of the build cost, and took 1.5 months to arrive. He reckons pre-COVID would have been 20-30 percent cheaper and would have been a lot quicker to arrive. Still, was worth it as the garage is now free for motorbikes and gym!
Gratuitous pick of the new port:
Thanks for all the background info! Not that it helps lowering the price: I still have to fork out the money.
I had several large ornate display book cases custom designed and built for me; we ordered them in September 2020 and delivery didn’t end up happening until January - the guy making them kept saying it was due to wood shortages, out of his control. I thought he was just bullsh****ng me, but in the end I concluded he was telling the truth. I don’t know the exact reasons though.
Supply and demand. Less holidays equals more money for home improvement I guess.
I’m about to have a loft conversion and and an extension!
Anyone in the trade?
I made an enforced job change due to redundancy last year (from a snow sports clothing & Outdoor footwear salesman of 13years) and set myself up as a handyman/fencing contractor in October
Since the New Year, I am finding that fencing product prices, -in both concrete and timber- are increasing alomost bi-monthly. There is also a general shortage in concrete posts (this is what could be affecting some people looking for new fencing), which is also causing issues.
Lastly, talking with friends that are Builders, Landscapers etc, they are all reporting a big upsurge in business since last March, with a lot of people have been working from home and wish to improve their spaces using the monet that they have saved from not having to commute/buy lunches/coffeess etc
If you are thinking of any kind of project, my advice is don't delay, get it booked and get the materials bought!
John
It's mental what building supplies now cost!
Last edited by Adge; 5th April 2021 at 22:23.
Is it a brexit or a COVID thing?
Timber prices have gone up 3x over the last year, so jobs I had priced previously are not worth doing now.
Similar to a lot of materials but timber has soared
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Doesn't surprise me.
I mean, it doesn't grow on trees, does it!
I recently had 11 pressure treated fence panels from Travis Perkins and I thought they were quite reasonably priced at £26 each, and no not the bottom of the range paper thin ones!
Also bought a fair bit of timber from a local merchant to make a couple of gates and that was around previous prices I have paid, maybe it has gone up a bit but not to where I thought it’s a lot more than I previously paid..
Coincidentally, there's an article in a Dutch newspaper about this today.
The article in short: Covid has stopped producing in Asia and a dispute between Canada and the US made Canadian timber 24% more expensive for US companies (tax). A lot those US companies turn to Europe for timber. Finally, the shortage of shipping containers. After a Covid related stop last year, the demand for shipping containers is 'up' again for transporting all sorts of cargo. Add to that the 'Ever Given' debacle in the Suez Canal and we're sure that prices will not go down for a while.
Last edited by thieuster; 6th April 2021 at 08:10.
It was on the news weeks ago that a chap set up a business building timber outbuildings for people.
He had absolutely tons of orders but couldnt get the timber needed in the amount needed.
Since the start of COVID the price of lumber has almost quadrupled in the US.
Watch the Uneducated Economist on YouTube if you want to know more.
Duplicate post.
It will get much worse, I work in wood flooring and the prices of our containers from China have gone up 3x in the last year. Just had a quote for $7k to bring a container in up from around $2-3k last year.
The other issue is stock, our suppliers are struggling to find any oak especially prime oak so the prices are slowly creeping up for everything. They only see the situation getting worse, not better.
I was looking at some decking before weekend, it was just over £800. Today it’s £1250!
Container prices from the far east are crippling, I work for a brick company and we have seen an increase from $750 to around $1600 - $1950 for May/June. Spot prices are around $3000 😱. I hear anecdotally that the containers from China to the US can command up to $10k so there is no incentive to ship to Europe.
Posting Permissions
