Materials pricing

[boiler717]

I know building materials have skyrocketed in price lately. We are planning on a bathroom remodel + basement update, but aren’t in a rush. Do you think prices will normalize post-pandemic or is it better to just get in now?

[aprilsails]

So when the economy pretty well fully recovered in my area in 2012-2014 there was a noticeable increase in prices for materials. Not comparable to the current situation, but much more so than 2007-2012 when pricing had been very flat. Afterwards, from 2015-2019 pricing increased pretty well in line with inflation.

I haven’t seen a materials price correction ever. I don’t even think there was one in 2008 when the financial crisis hit. We just had way less projects but things cost about the same.

So while I realize that the current insane increase is not likely sustainable, I don’t know that we will see much of a price correction. More likely that prices will remain flat for a number of years as the economy goes through a period of recovery.

[aprilsails]

I meant to add- while I’ve never seen an industry wide correction in materials pricing, I have seen corrections in labour pricing. If an area is overly busy labour prices go way up because everyone will be working overtime. If things get slow again then it will drop. We’ve had a few cycles of this in the skilled trades locally when major government projects drop. I imagine now, considering how much people are spending on their homes vs travel, that this would be a short peak in the labour market.