Plywood cost

[Sturgeon]

Plywood reaching Covid pricing and looking at lumber futures the price per thousand is a third of pandemic high's. Wanting to by a bunch of plywood but these cost are out there and kind of ranting but wondering what's going on?

 

[never enuf time]

The price of sheetgoods went up after the Texas freeze a couple years ago. Limited number of companies making the resin is my guess.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The info I found online only has pricing until the end of 2023, there was a bump in October 2023 but then it went back down again. It may have gone up since the first of the year, I don't know about that.

 

[Sturgeon]

I could partially understand labor cost going up, but I'm not thinking it's the culprit, even fuel has come down. What ever the driving force behind this, their certainly not making it simple to be able to afford. Maybe it's just the horrendous inflation?

 

[OccupantRJ]

I just looked for the heck of it when I read this. In 2010 when I walled my shop, 1/2” BC plywood was $20 for a 4x8 sheet. It is now $40 for same. 100% price increase in 14 years. Damn.

 

[reader2580]

Plywood at Menards in my area is significantly cheaper than at the peak during COVID. The price is still high, but down a good third at least since peak.

 

[Sturgeon]

H D carrys a 3/4" cabinet grade + - plywood that was around $45.00 pre covid and went up to close $75.00. As of yesterday it was $66,00 persheet and when you look at the thousand perfoot price there not even in the ball park. Not being the sharpest tack, the low, low $50.00's would be realistic

 

[jar944]

H D carrys a 3/4" cabinet grade + - plywood that was around $45.00 pre covid and went up to close $75.00. As of yesterday it was $66,00 persheet and when you look at the thousand perfoot price there not even in the ball park. Not being the sharpest tack, the low, low $50.00's would be realistic

Pre-covid 3/4 maple Columbia pure bond was $62/sheet, It's $84 today.

 

[PoorUB]

It is a conspiracy!

I don't want this to get political, but....

Seriously, IMO, during COVID prices went nuts and supply failed to meet the demand, plus many manufacturers were dealing with shut downs from COVID. Manufacturers jacked up their prices, people still bought so when the dust settled the prices dropped some, but manufactures are simply enjoying higher profits. If you do some research and look at company financials, most companies are doing better than they were pre-COVID.

I worked at a HVAC supply house during COVID. We had one major supplier that simply gave up on us and refused to ship our orders. We found another supplier to fill that void and we sold more from that supplier in 2020 than the previous 2-3 years with the other. Most of our suppliers were pretty good and filling our orders. Our sales that year were crazy. We attributed it to people working from home. We have a big lakes area just east of here and from the contractors we supplied they were installing air conditioning in lake homes that never had it. People left the city and worked from home at their lake place and because they were there full time wanted AC. It was crazy times for sales.

I am still in contact with guys I worked with. Equipment prices to a big jump during that time and never went down. Contractor pricing is way up too. It is funny how cost on a furnace jumps 50% and the installed price to the homeowner jumped 75%. I talk to friends that are contractors. Jobs they did before COVID they may have charged $7,500 are over $12K. They laugh because their costs did not jump up anywhere near that much.

 

[legenddc]

Russia is involved in a war and they're one of the leading plywood manufacturers. A lot of people initially stopped or tried to stop doing business with Russia which caused the price of plywood to increase.

Here's a whole podcast episode on it: https://www.lumberupdate.com/73-alternatives-to-russian-birch-plywood/

There was an update about a year ago: https://www.lumberupdate.com/94-eab-good-news-log-scaler-and-exotic-dust/

 

[rayra]

Like fuel pricing, retail prices of building materials are often a lagging indicator, the retailer is selling at their markup over what they paid for a given lot of stuff. Even if supply prices dip it isn't immediately reflected. Which often results in higher prices hanging around a lot longer. I'm seeing this reflected in retail pricing for hardwoods. Lot of the materials I'm looking for have been sitting on shelves here in relatively dry Las Vegas long enough to warp and cup. I've now hit my 4th regional big box store trying to find oak planks of the size I want that are in useable form. And getting stuck for about $15 / board foot for the privilege.
And I just paid $96 / sheet for 3/4" oak veneer plywood. That's been hanging in that range for much of the past 3yrs.
And I mostly blame covid supply disruptions and the rampant inflation. I buy most of the groceries to and can firmly say the govt inflation numbers are total falsehoods. Most prices are up ~~40%. And if they aren't up like that, the product is instead masking the cost increase via 'shrinkflation' of the goods in the package.

 

[RogerO2]

I'm in the process of insulating my garage and putting up plywood walls. To be as budget friendly as possible, I'm using 3/8" CDX, and at the local single owner building center in my town, those 4x8 sheets are $18.99 each. I'm sure I could get it cheaper at HD or Lowe's, but the closest of those is an hour away, so the savings in cost of material doesn't equate to the gas it would take to drive to the big box stores and back.

 

[purplezr2]

I just bought Plywood for a cabinet project. I used UV2 birch, it was about 1/2 the cost of the stuff I bought in 2022, and a much better product.

 

[Plastikosmd]

Don’t look at the 1/4” 1.5x4’ steel stock at HD.
(Not the right place to buy metal, but I needed a couple pieces quick)

37$ a piece. They probably only weigh 4lbs

 

[Sturgeon]

In closing for me the inflation as previously mentioned at the grocery stores is astounding, grandkids can't get enough smoked chicken wings. Their double in price and even now you see them four to a package, like that makes thing's better. The plywood from what I see, no matter what it's made of is being hammered by more than one single issue I believe. Shop on and hammer away GARAGERS.

 

[MovingAlong]

Don’t look at the 1/4” 1.5x4’ steel stock at HD.
(Not the right place to buy metal, but I needed a couple pieces quick)

37$ a piece. They probably only weigh 4lbs

When I was "newer", went with a man to buy a couple new cement mixers for his stucco business. He signed a blank ticket at the yard and we hooked up the mixers and headed out to drop them off at the job sites.

Asked him later if he knew what they cost. "Nope, doesn't matter. Can't get work done without them." Learned that price was secondary to a busy contractor - service is everything.

You needed steel, they had it. You paid the fair "tax" for that service...

 

[Plastikosmd]

Ya, I know, by about 4x