BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — John Bossinger is the owner of Built by Boss, he handles all sorts of projects, almost all require lumber. He very much noticed the dramatic rise in lumber prices this year.
“$50 a sheet, $20 a stick, that's a lot for a piece of wood,” said Bossinger.
The price for 1,000 board feet of lumber shot up to nearly $1,700 in the beginning of May. “It was the biggest increase of all time,” said Stephen Coppola, the vice-president of Len-Co Lumber.
Around the same time in 2019, the same amount of wood was about $350.
“Customers were turning down a lot of jobs because the prices of them obviously,” said Bossinger.
Prices are still a long way off from 2019, but with the price of 1,000 board feet back down to under $900, Coppola says customers are starting to see prices go down.
“Depending on the item some things are down 20-30%,” said Coppola.
There were many factors causing the spike in prices, it mainly came down to supply and demand.
“Everyone thought that COVID-19 was going to decrease demand and then do-it-yourself customers and homeowners that were home during COVID were looking to improve their own homes and really that demand skyrocketed,” added Coppola.
“And we're trying to get the word out there. Let people know, that if you have things to do or if you're a contractor, if you have sold work job,s that you sold, now is a good time to start looking,” said Coppola.
