High Lumber Prices: What alternatives are there to build a house?

Question

Why aren't builders trying other materials instead of stick-built homes? I just paid $72k for a lumber package on 4 1250 SF townhomes that would have cost less than half that a year ago. Almost every major metro area in the U.S. has a shortage of housing, largely due to how expensive it is. In my opinion, this is a very important problem.

Barricade Thermo-Brace can be used instead of plywood or OSB for ext. sheathing and is supposedly cheaper, but that is still a small portion.

Do you know anyone building "creatively" to save on cost? What are they using? What do you think more builders should use?

I did a little research and found things like BamCore (bamboo walls with no studs), metal-type studs, and IFC, but I can't be sure that is any less expensive. The one time I called up a pre-fab company that worked in my area of nashville and Mid TN, and they said they cost the same as the other builders in the area but are supposedly faster by a month or two.

JD Martin · Answer

I don't know about Nashville but out here on this end of the state there's no profit in building low-end houses, even if you made them out of papier mache. By the time you pay for your land, grading, permits, utilities, mechanical trades, labor force, asphalt and sales/marketing there's no point in building if you're not selling ~$300k or more. The materials just don't add/subtract enough from it to make "affordable" housing make sense in any sense of the word for someone building for a profit.I think the bottom line is that there's just not going to be any affordable housing except for rentals unless the government builds it/subsidizes it, or the economic bottom falls out to where no one has any money anyway. There's way too much expense with everything else for any professional to accept a profit margin that small.

Emilio Ramirez · Answer

In Denver, right now, price appreciation is absorbing the cost increase. no one cares about alternatives, build as fast as you can. Cost of lumber is up across all materials and products. Steel still isn't cheaper nor masonry or concrete... so???

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

YUP just raise your price by 15k per door thats what we did. 72k for that lumber pack is still cheaper than what i pay in Oregon and heck we manufacture the material within 10 miles of where we are building so its not trucking costs LOL.. its the mills cashing in and the lumber brokers.

Ronald Rohde · Answer

I'd assume most new build are slab on grade. Honestly the problem isn't so much alternative material costs--its the builders and tradesmen who deal with it and feel comfortable installing it. To truly implement something like metal studs, you need an entire generation of homebuilders, architects, framers who are comfortable using it as an alternative. As someone said earlier, when you can price in the increase, no one is going to rock the boat trying something new. That will just slow you down.If pricing stays up for years, then we may start to see a shift to alternative materials.

Allan Smith · Answer

Population growth and migration to desirable areas. Not all cities have the supply problem, but most larger metros do.

Cullum Stirling · Answer

@Allan Smith great question. I imagine there's a lot of us asking the same question(s). I never realized until recently how expensive all the permits and such were for builders. I'm a novice, but the more I learn as I mesh into this industry, the more it's appearing to me that down the road the larger majority will not be able to afford housing. Supply and demand is a real thing and right now demand is winning and there appears to be no near end in sight.In the UK they seem to have the same problem in regards to the housing shortage. Where are all these people coming from creating this shortage / demand? I understand a mass migration from one area to another (for example from California to Middle TN), but is this happening on a much larger scale too? i.e. a result of immigration into the 1st world countries?Obviously the population is growing in general, does that account for the housing shortage... I don't know. I reckon I need to look a lot further into the stats.

Luka Milicevic · Answer

Do a slab instead of crawlspace.Building materials as a whole are way up. They about increase daily.

Allan Smith · Answer

What about shipping containers? May not be luxurious but it's somehow branded as cool right now, and surely it's cheaper per SF?I've always been in the low income niche mostly, so I want to build houses that sell under median price. If there's a creative alternative to expensive materials, I'm all about it. most Builders do as you guys are saying and they just build bigger houses and charge more because the margins are larger on those bigger houses. Helps offset fixed expenses like permits and regulations. certainly gets the job done and we do need more housing inventory on the upper end as well, but the real challenge is the insane demand for houses under median. I really believe that a house two-thirds of median price around here can be made of just about anything and people will buy it.

Adam Wright · Answer

@Allan Smith great topic to address. We’ve looked at a few options. never know with Metro Nashville. Following this thread and look forward more insight.Thanks!