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Building a new home is likely to cost at least $1,000 more now than it did five months ago, thanks to increased lumber costs.
Lumber prices are soaring, mainly because of high demand for the product and new, more expensive lumber now required for building decks.
In an area where growth is a constant issue, the price increase means shoppers everywhere are shelling out more cash.
In one year, softwood lumber rose from $280 per 1,000 board feet to $460, said Michael Carliner, economist for the National Association of Home Builders. A 4- by 8-foot sheet of plywood has climbed from $7.81 to $16.64. The price for that size sheet of oriented strand board, a plywood substitute used primarily for floor and roof sheeting in homes, has gone up from from $6.30 a year ago to $15.68.
A typical 2,000-square-foot home uses about 16,000 board feet of lumber, according to the NAHB.
Carliner sets his prices according to Random Lengths Publications, which is an information source for the wood products industry.
A spokeswoman for Lowe's Home Improvement, which operates a store locally in Central Park, said her company also uses Random Lengths as a pricing guide.
Home Depot in Stafford and 84 Lumber in Fredericksburg also have raised prices.
"Although the prices are all increasing, it just seems like the housing starts and people working on their homes haven't stopped, which increases the cost even more," said Shawn Cahall, manager of 84 Lumber. "It's like a big cycle."
National housing starts last year totaled 1.848 million, a 25-year high, according to a press release from the NAHB.
Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George and Orange counties last year issued 3,581 building permits for single-family homes. Permits have remained steady since 1996 and show no signs of slowing, despite rising costs.
Dan Sandoval, manager of Wayne Homes in Fredericksburg, said lumber accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of a home's price tag. Due to lumber costs and increases in electric and copper, Wayne Homes increased its prices 1 percent last month, he said.
But the company still sold 21 houses in four months this year, about 10 more than they projected, Sandoval said.
"We've made our price adjustments, we've anticipated these increases and I think these customers understood," he said.
Price fluctuations in lumber forced Atlantic Homes to push prices up by about $1,000 per home this year, said Charles Caruso, director of purchasing for Atlantic Homes.
Some area builders and suppliers say gas prices are to blame for higher lumber costs, as more money is spent transporting the produce.
Others blame costlier lumber treatment methods on reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Mike French, owner of Virginia Decking and Remodeling, said the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for price increases in treated lumber. At the end of last year, lumber treatment companies no longer could produce chromated copper arsenate, which was used to protect it against rot and pests.
The EPA began a CCA evaluation two years ago, which led the treatment industry to voluntarily phase out production of the chemical.
French said a deck contractor will pay about $216 more to buy arsenic-free lumber for a 12- by- 18-foot deck.
"It's interesting because it really hasn't slowed anybody down that I know of," he said.
Gary Smoot, owner of Smoot Decks and Designs, said a 12- by-18-foot deck built with arsenic free-lumber today costs about $3,700, or $300 more than a CCA-treated deck. But the increase hasn't slowed his business--he has steady appointments to build decks through the end of August.
"I don't think customers notice the increase just because of escalating prices of homes," Smoot said. "They expect that to be the case."
Stafford County resident Irene Egan shopped around to find the best price before having her 14- by-16-foot deck built recently.
Egan, who has two children, said she feels better using the arsenic-free lumber, despite the cost.
"I'd rather not pay the extra money, but it's kind of a Catch-22," she said. "What do you do?"
Cahall from 84 Lumber said he doesn't expect lumber prices to drop off anytime soon.
"One of the biggest issues we have in this market is lumber being a commodity," Cahall said.
Jack Hooper, spokesman for the Defense Logistics Agency in Fort Belvoir, denied that lumber purchases for Iraq pushed up prices.
Hooper said the DLA's lumber purchases last year amounted to less than 2 percent of total buys for the product.
He also stressed that the DLA only uses lumber to support the military forces, not rebuilding in Iraq.
So what is the reason for soaring lumber prices?
"The most basic of them is Economics 101, supply and demand," Hooper said.
To reach JEFF BRANSCOME: 540/374-5000, ext. 5710
