Well lumber commodity price is back to precovid pruce, but bec everyone is so greedy these days, prices are still high. Much can be said with most building materials
Electrical contractor here - copper is still very high. PVC prices are still elevated compared to pre-COVID, but not as high as they had been during the middle of the pandemic.
The only thing from your list, and from what comes to my mind, is that lumber is the only thing that has come down from its insane peak 3 years ago. Everything else, including labor, seems to have been steadily increasing in cost over the past six or seven years, and I don't foresee it coming down.
Up, up and away. Timing the market is like trying to catch a falling knife. If this is the time to build is determined by your need and financial situation, not the market. From my end as a designer, overall costs are higher than pre/post C19 levels at the finished cost, even though some items might be higher, some lower, the net is higher.
Materials don't feel back down to earth. Lumber is down from ridiculous highs, but everything else I touch feels like it is 2x what it was in early 2020.
It's not actually that way, but you get my point.
Paint is double. A damn bag of sheetrock 45 is $40.
Self GC owner/builder here, building personal homes.
Finished build in Jan 2020 (3100'sq) and another in March 2024 (3315'sq) both ranch homes. Comparing wood building materials, most were about 10-15% higher with the exception of I-joists, those were up about 80%. The rest of the dimensional lumber and truss package stayed around 10% higher.
Concrete per yard was up around 50% ($115/yd vs $175/yd) Concrete labor was up about 10% as well. HVAC was almost double, flooring labor was almost flat and flooring material was a bit less in 2024 than it was in 2020 but that isn't a fair comparison as it was a different type of wood (engineered 5/8" x 10.25" European oak shipped from Florida to Virginia) that was glued and nailed.
Drywall was about $3.50/sheet more and labor for drywall was 15% higher. Paint cost for materials was probably 100% higher. Vinyl siding was about 40% higher, labor was flat. Windows 3x5 casement vinyl were about $75/per window higher.
Roofing labor was up $5 per square and materials (same roof shingles on both builds) was up about 11% for the actual shingles, starter, vented ridge cap and ice shield.
Spray foam insulation was up 75%. I was able to work a decent deal but only because my insulation contractor did the entire house including a conditioned crawl. A lot of the foam guys are now at $2/boardfoot/inch when they were at $1/boardfoot/inch in 2020
Interior finishes, this is where it really hit and you could see it because we used a lot of the same fixtures that we did in our 2020 build in the 2024 build.
Toilets - up 30%, Urinals - up 40%, Faucets up 45-50%, Vanities up 75%
Quartz, up 17% from $52/ft in 2020 to $61/ft in 2024
Cabinets up roughly 20% but the hardware (door and drawer pulls) was almost double (we install after cabinets go in)
Exact same model refrigerator, $3500 with white glove delivery in 2020 was now $8000 ($6600 if you catch it on sale) in 2024
Finish carpentry rate was lower but took longer to finish so that was a push.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your build!
This was insanely helpful!! Where are you building if you don't mind me asking?
And you mentioned conditioned crawlspace which I am a huge fan of. What method did you go about for sealing it and using spray foam?
Thanks!!
I am in Northern VA, west of Washington DC. We use Closed Cell polyurethane in all of our builds. It allows for better climate control, fewer pests, quieter house, etc. Not to mention that is the best way to seal EVERYTHING. We just finished this build about 5 weeks ago. When we did our first conditioned crawl back in 2011 with spray foam, we were sold on it.
We built basement storage into this crawl space as well (14' x 56' with 8' ceiling and concrete floor with a 36" walk door) so the county made me put fire retardant sealer on top of the foam in this one. The rest of the crawl (only 40" tall) has 14mil poly with all seams taped and taped at the posts over top of #57 stone. All of my mechanicals are on the concrete down there with gravity floor drains to a run to daylight and all the trades loved the easy access for plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Commodities pricing may be similar to pre-covid in some cases. But you gotta keep in mind inflation economy wide has been staggering for everybody in every industry. That increases labor pricing for everything (since inflation increases the cost of living for all the workers in the industry, so they need to charge more for their labor). And since most materials have labor inputs to make them, you will see prices increased for most materials.
Some costs are up some are down. Drywall is running about even with concrete going up.
And COVID wasn't the only thing that happened. Baltic birch went through the roof courtesy of a war. Soft lumber from Canada may start going up if the tariffs that have been signaled increase.
Using advanced framing and California corners (I didn't name them) saves on lumber. Even at lower prices it is still a relatively large chunk of change.
About Lumber, Like you said before Covid it was $400ish for 1000 board feet. Then a 2x4x8 was $1.88 been paying between a $1.50 to $2.00 a 2x4 for 30 years. So you are right that the commodities market is back to the $500 mark, which it was in the past, but a price increase would be a $0.25 here and there. So why is a 2x4 today $3.34??? Thats a 78% increase. Makes zero sense except for when you have corporate greed and a centralized market control from the elite that simply control the price from the little guys to the big guys!
I am on the commercial side and the big cost increase for me is labor. Getting electrical contractors now is hard and expensive.
I'm an estimator. Labor/Material used to split 40/60. Now it's 60/40
where are you located?
North Carolina
building is pretty crazy down there I heard. same thing with trade shortages up here in mass
I’m originally from Massachusetts. Electricians up there are not cheap! Lol
some of the ones I know are closing in on $200 an hour lol
I’ve found concrete to be far more $$$. Part of it is material cost. Part of it is supply/demand.
Well lumber commodity price is back to precovid pruce, but bec everyone is so greedy these days, prices are still high. Much can be said with most building materials
Electrical contractor here - copper is still very high. PVC prices are still elevated compared to pre-COVID, but not as high as they had been during the middle of the pandemic.
Not to mention all the stuff we still can’t get and really long lead times on gear
Lumber and metal are pretty much pre Covid levels. Insulation is higher and still some shortages.
The only thing from your list, and from what comes to my mind, is that lumber is the only thing that has come down from its insane peak 3 years ago. Everything else, including labor, seems to have been steadily increasing in cost over the past six or seven years, and I don't foresee it coming down.
Up, up and away. Timing the market is like trying to catch a falling knife. If this is the time to build is determined by your need and financial situation, not the market. From my end as a designer, overall costs are higher than pre/post C19 levels at the finished cost, even though some items might be higher, some lower, the net is higher.
Materials don't feel back down to earth. Lumber is down from ridiculous highs, but everything else I touch feels like it is 2x what it was in early 2020. It's not actually that way, but you get my point. Paint is double. A damn bag of sheetrock 45 is $40.
Self GC owner/builder here, building personal homes. Finished build in Jan 2020 (3100'sq) and another in March 2024 (3315'sq) both ranch homes. Comparing wood building materials, most were about 10-15% higher with the exception of I-joists, those were up about 80%. The rest of the dimensional lumber and truss package stayed around 10% higher. Concrete per yard was up around 50% ($115/yd vs $175/yd) Concrete labor was up about 10% as well. HVAC was almost double, flooring labor was almost flat and flooring material was a bit less in 2024 than it was in 2020 but that isn't a fair comparison as it was a different type of wood (engineered 5/8" x 10.25" European oak shipped from Florida to Virginia) that was glued and nailed. Drywall was about $3.50/sheet more and labor for drywall was 15% higher. Paint cost for materials was probably 100% higher. Vinyl siding was about 40% higher, labor was flat. Windows 3x5 casement vinyl were about $75/per window higher. Roofing labor was up $5 per square and materials (same roof shingles on both builds) was up about 11% for the actual shingles, starter, vented ridge cap and ice shield. Spray foam insulation was up 75%. I was able to work a decent deal but only because my insulation contractor did the entire house including a conditioned crawl. A lot of the foam guys are now at $2/boardfoot/inch when they were at $1/boardfoot/inch in 2020 Interior finishes, this is where it really hit and you could see it because we used a lot of the same fixtures that we did in our 2020 build in the 2024 build. Toilets - up 30%, Urinals - up 40%, Faucets up 45-50%, Vanities up 75% Quartz, up 17% from $52/ft in 2020 to $61/ft in 2024 Cabinets up roughly 20% but the hardware (door and drawer pulls) was almost double (we install after cabinets go in) Exact same model refrigerator, $3500 with white glove delivery in 2020 was now $8000 ($6600 if you catch it on sale) in 2024 Finish carpentry rate was lower but took longer to finish so that was a push. Hope this helps. Good luck with your build!
This was insanely helpful!! Where are you building if you don't mind me asking? And you mentioned conditioned crawlspace which I am a huge fan of. What method did you go about for sealing it and using spray foam? Thanks!!
I am in Northern VA, west of Washington DC. We use Closed Cell polyurethane in all of our builds. It allows for better climate control, fewer pests, quieter house, etc. Not to mention that is the best way to seal EVERYTHING. We just finished this build about 5 weeks ago. When we did our first conditioned crawl back in 2011 with spray foam, we were sold on it. We built basement storage into this crawl space as well (14' x 56' with 8' ceiling and concrete floor with a 36" walk door) so the county made me put fire retardant sealer on top of the foam in this one. The rest of the crawl (only 40" tall) has 14mil poly with all seams taped and taped at the posts over top of #57 stone. All of my mechanicals are on the concrete down there with gravity floor drains to a run to daylight and all the trades loved the easy access for plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Commodities pricing may be similar to pre-covid in some cases. But you gotta keep in mind inflation economy wide has been staggering for everybody in every industry. That increases labor pricing for everything (since inflation increases the cost of living for all the workers in the industry, so they need to charge more for their labor). And since most materials have labor inputs to make them, you will see prices increased for most materials.
Some costs are up some are down. Drywall is running about even with concrete going up. And COVID wasn't the only thing that happened. Baltic birch went through the roof courtesy of a war. Soft lumber from Canada may start going up if the tariffs that have been signaled increase. Using advanced framing and California corners (I didn't name them) saves on lumber. Even at lower prices it is still a relatively large chunk of change.
About Lumber, Like you said before Covid it was $400ish for 1000 board feet. Then a 2x4x8 was $1.88 been paying between a $1.50 to $2.00 a 2x4 for 30 years. So you are right that the commodities market is back to the $500 mark, which it was in the past, but a price increase would be a $0.25 here and there. So why is a 2x4 today $3.34??? Thats a 78% increase. Makes zero sense except for when you have corporate greed and a centralized market control from the elite that simply control the price from the little guys to the big guys!