Philadelphia, PA
- Whether you're a contractor or a homeowner looking to remodel, the cost of lumber will make your head spin. Walk into any lumber store or Home Depot, and you'll find the pandemic-driven home renovation craze is driving up the price of even the most basic building materials. Making lumber hard to come by. That's if you can even get your hands on it.
Lumber Shortages and Rasing Prices Hit the Philadelphia Regions
Estimates across the country show the cost of building a new home use to be around $10,000 in lumber cost just a year ago now it could cost you upward of $40,000 in just lumber.
According to an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders, lumber prices alone have pushed the cost of an average new single-family home to an additional $35,872 higher.
The problem begins at the start of the pandemic, when many sawmills across the country halted lumber production, expecting a drop in housing demand. Unfortunately, the shortage never arrived, creating a lumber shortage in what turned out to be a hot housing market and an uptick in home renovation projects.
The shortage is putting many new home projects on hold, increasing the renovations of existing projects, and causing market prices for new homes to skyrocket. Some contractors are only honoring bids for 5 days, expecting materials to increase during the week.
The pandemic lumber crisis is just the latest example of the faster than expected economic recovery from the pandemic, which affected the nation's supply chain, as manufacturers are desperate for new workers who are in short demand.
In the case of lumber, the shortage is being amplified by tariffs imposed on Canadian lumber. As a result, the home building industry is asking the government to eliminate the 9% tariff on Canadian lumber to increase the nationals lumber supply.
The silver lining in all this is that the lumber industry expects production to eventually. Catch up with demand. The quest that remains is when.
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Joy Franklin
Staff Writer
My joy is aimed at food and foodie lovers. I enjoy covering trends, issues, and all things Philly
