Metal roofing prices have come down

[n74tg]

A couple of months ago I priced 26 gauge, K panel metal roofing (painted, either 40 or 50 year warranty, I can't remember which).  It was about $2.95 per linear foot (38" wide panels, 2" overlap).  Today, when I ordered my material I found the price had come down to $2.45 per linear foot.  Since each linear foot is three square feet of roofing that comes out to about 81 cents per sq foot, or $81 per square.

A friend priced asphalt shingles at our local building supplies (Lowes) over the weekend.  Guess what, they were $80 a square too. 

Humm, I'm glad I waited.   

[jb52761]

Just had this conversation with my cousin a few days ago. Menards had 7/16  4x8 sheets of OSB on sale for less than 6 bucks. The last ones I bought, I paid over 9 dollars each. Obviously the economy has certainly slowed the construction of new homes I'm guessing, thus creating a surplus of these materials...jb

[Jens]

Well, metal prices have come down considerably.  Copper plumbing is about 30% cheaper than 6 months ago too.

[Beavers]

Well, metal prices have come down considerably.  Copper plumbing is about 30% cheaper than 6 months ago too.

Still can't beat the price of PEX!  I just bought 150' of 1" PEX for $117, copper would of cost close $500.   

This is a great time to be building...

I was going over some of my framing estimates with my father in law the other day.  He dug out his old receipts from an addition he did on his house in 1982...lumber is pretty close to the same price now as it was 27 years ago! 

[lockman]

Around here, copper wiring has gone down about 50%.

[peteh2833]

I just bought some wiring for my place. 250ft of 14-2 wire was $25 and 250ft of 12-2 wire was $35. Not too bad. Iti s nice that I'm building right now while prices are cheap. Pete

[Redoverfarm]

Yes copper apparently has dropped down. Talked to a contractor (neighbor) who bought 1000 ft roll of 12/2 for $160.  Last year he paid close to $400.  I had to end up buying another 250' roll to finish up the cabin and I think at the time I paid $62 for it. 

[Jens]

That's about the same as I paid when I was wiring my house last spring.  I am considering buying a 1000' roll with the tax return, just to have, so that when I do finally get around to building, I got it at a cheaper rate.  On;y problem is, can't guarantee it won't get cheaper!  Kinda like stocks, except I have no interest in them, like to make my investments in stuff I can see and use 

[muldoon]

it's deflation, everything is cheaper.  cars, houses, stocks, employees, wood, metal, etc.   No real way of telling how low things will go.  At some point it just stops being profitable and the companies just go out of business and supply dries up until supply/demand forces new companies to open.   

At some even later point the deflation it will reverse, and then we can look back and say yep - 2009 was a good year to build.  Today is a good time to be finding sales and just filling up a barn with stuff for later too.  especially hard to find or custom items. 

[davidj]

Another deflationary data point:

Pretty much exactly a year ago, we got quoted for new central heating in our main house - $9000.  The same company called again last week, begging for business.  Just got the new quote - basically $7000 for the same system.  And almost $2K in federal stimulus and PG&E rebates on top of that too.

The federal stimulus tax credits are pretty decent - a tax credit of 30% of the cost up to $1500 for qualifying energy efficiency upgrades.  This actually comes off the bottom line of your tax bill, it's not an allowance.  Not really sure what's covered, but 95% efficiency furnaces, 90% efficiency water heaters, 75% efficiency wood stoves and stuff like replacement windows too.  The big minus is that it only works for your primary residence