Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

Wood Woes

High lumber prices and lack of supply affecting Kamloops builders and suppliers

Aug 25, 2020 | 4:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — If you’re building a home or just starting a backyard project, be prepared for your costs to increase. Since April, the price of lumber has gone up by almost 170 per cent as a result of the pandemic affecting supply.

“People were thinking about the housing market tanking in the states, which is our main market. Things weren’t looking good overseas, or here in Canada,” Harry Nelson, Associate Professor at UBC tells CFJC Today. “Mills started to go down, so we were basically taking supply offline.”

An unexpected increase in demand over the past few months is also responsible for record lumber prices. Rick Kurzac, owner of the Home Hardware Building Centre in Kamloops has seen more and more customers buying up building materials.

“I just don’t think the marketplace was prepared for what nesting meant for people, with COVID and staying at home,” Kurzac says. “Everyone just looking around right across North America and saying it’s time to build that deck or build that fence. It literally drained the supply out.”

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As a result, the price of lumber per 1,000 board feet has seen a huge surge. Two-by-four SPF lumber that cost $316 US in April is up nearly 170 per cent to US$850 US — over CA$1,100. Prices haven’t seen a surge like this since the mid-1990s.

“Basically, things were going on in the States where they weren’t harvesting their timber. Markets were really strong for housing and lumber. We hit a high of a little bit over $460 [per 1,000 board feet],” Nelson explains. “If we even factor inflation into account, we’re higher now than we have been even going back 30 years.”

For Jerry Lorenz, First Vice President with the Central Interior chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association, there’s no way builders and contractors can avoid passing that increase along to their customers.

“Doesn’t matter if you’re building rental apartments or single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses or even renovations, “ Lorenz says. “It all affects the bottom line.”

The demand for lumber has also made it difficult for builders and suppliers to get the products they need.

“The biggest challenge is we can’t even get [some products],” Kurzac explains. “Availability is more like the end of October or November.”

By that time, Nelson expects prices could be on the decline. If you’re looking to start a project soon, it might be worth waiting.

“I think prices will come back to more historical levels at some point,” Nelson says. “If somebody is worried about doing something and they think ‘Oh my God, look at the price of lumber,’ just be patient, wait. You’ll be able to buy it again, but you won’t have to pay $800 per thousand [board feet].”