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Why is lumber soooo expensive?

No wonder renovations and new homes costs are so exorbitant.

Lumber prices are at an all-time high of US$1,300 per thousand board feet, up dramatically from the historical average of US$400.

"As with any commodity hike, it's the customer that ultimately has to pay the increase," said Nick Arkle, CEO of West Kelowna-based Gorman Brothers Lumber.

"But it all comes down to supply and demand. Supply of lumber dried up at the start of COVID and hasn't been able to catch up since, driving the price up to three times as much."

</who>Nick Arkle is the CEO of West Kelowna-based Gorman Brothers Lumber.

Lumber price hikes translates to about US$25,000 extra on the construction of a new, single-family home.

The price of other materials and inputs from steel, tile, roofing and electrical to bathroom fixtures, appliances and labour have also skyrocketed.

It's all due to the COVID effect.

Lumber and other material manufacturers ceased production when the pandemic first hit in March 2020.

Quickly, lockdowns -- and all that time stuck at home -- made people realize they wanted to spruce up their place with a renovation or move to or build a bigger and better place.

The restart of manufacturing couldn't keep up and prices jumped amid the demand spike.

It means in Kelowna the average selling price of a single-family resale home and new-construction home have shot up about 25% in a year to $850,000 and $1 million, respectively.

The scenario also means there's often a bidding war over homes for sale, they end up changing hands for more than the list price and good luck finding a renovator or homebuilder.

</who>The commodity price of lumber is currently a record-high US$1,300 per thousand board feet, up remarkably from the historical average of US$400.

By the way, the standard one thousand board feet measurement used refers to the equivalent of a thousand foot length of lumber that's a foot wide and one inch thick.

Gorman Brothers is at two-shifts-a-day capacity at its one-inch finishing board mill in West Kelowna, its cedar siding and decking mill in Revelstoke, its plywood plant in Canoe and remanufacturing facility in Oroville, Washington.

Total workforce is at about 1,000, making it the largest single private-sector employer in West Kelowna, Revelstoke and the Shuswap.

It can't really ramp up any more because wood supply from under-license tree harvesting on Crown land has been reduced since the heavy volumes to clear out and make use of pine beetle damaged forest and wood.

Gorman's one-inch boards from West Kelowna are used for interior trims and finishings.

Cedar products from Revelstoke are used primarily for exterior siding and decks.

Plywood from Canoe is used in walls, flooring, concrete forms, cabinetry and furniture making.

The Oroville plant also mills one-inch boards for trims and finishings.



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