Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Booming Great Britain

A pal of mine living on Victoria Island, BC reports similar price increases for 2 x 4 construction grade lumber and also sheetrock.
Inflation is beckoning, I feel!

Trust the government: Actually there is hardly any inflation at all!

(only the prices are going up)

Inflation is to be expected with massive manufacturing shutdowns and shortages, not so long ago simple things like shipping containers were in short supply because they were all in the wrong place due to Covid.

Our Town plan has been approved for 10.000 new homes more than doubling the local housing stock, whilst the Governments own rising sea levels projections have the area under water by 2050, the first to go will be the new houses as they are in former drained sea marsh areas........very little new road infrastructure to be put in place as apparently no-longer a required planning consideration, same for available school places etc. With a projected 4 million house shortfall, something has to give...which will only get worse if people abandon city and urban areas due to WFH etc.

Crazy world!
Just finishing a barn conversion I started on 1.6.20 - Covid affected building material supplies have been a constant problem.
As Brownbaker says, plasterboard was a nightmare at the beginning of the year, cement is now. Still, it kept me very busy during the various lockdowns.
And 1500 ‘new’ houses have been built all around the town, with many more to come.
It’s really depressing reading the local residents’ Facebook comments on the problems they face with their new build houses. How developers get away with such shoddy work is beyond my simple mind. In the 500 house estate around us the drains are being rebuilt as they don’t work, the gardens flood, the fence posts rot, gutter down pipes are not connected to soakaways, the render falls off, the heating doesn’t work, the roofs leak etc, etc. And people have paid £400 to £700k for these houses, with tiny overlooked gardens, and garages too small to take a medium sized car, so they park all along the roads, which are shared with bikes and people as no pavements are deemed necessary.
Rant over.

We have just had approved permission for another 600 houses to be built in the green belt around what used to be our village - that is on top of 2000 under construction. the recent one have given 2.8 million to a school about ten miles away so they can advertise that it is in their catchment area. There is a school within half a mile who could really make use of a cash injection. So that means 20 miles x2 x5=200 miles a week x (at a conservative estimate 200 children) =40,000 miles per week in the Chelsea tractors along very narrow country lanes.
Money talks - there are supposed to be a number of affordable houses included - but other developers here have ignored this and paid a nominal "fine" which is a paltry sum compared to what they make with the 4&5 bedroom boxes.

I've been making enquiries about a summer house for our garden and have been quoted October as the earliest delivery date.

Apparently all (most) building materials are being bought by HS2 project, leaving no supplies for the "trades"

Whoever told you that? Perhaps locally to the project, but nationwide, no chance!

How is Chester doing?? I am from Neston but lived for a while in Black friars on the Wall. If it makes you feel any better, we have the same problem here in Carmel California. Houses are sell for astronomical amounts over asking price, and building materials are soaring. A simple 4 be 2 (or 2 be 4 if you are in the US) has increased over 125%. I just remodeled my bathroom and got away with it, but I am still waiting for some plumbing supplies that are back ordered for two months. Good luck.

I have been following a topic in Pistonheads about housing. There is a massive uptake in house sales, extensions, home offices rental chasing apparently triggered by Covid reasons. Prices have surged ahead with competitive bidding, buyers jumping in for higher costing houses and rentals. The Stamp Duty easing has created a stampede. People seem to be a bit like Lemmings increasing their mortgages. It could well be a bubble set to burst. How are people getting mortgages? Maybe longer term or lenders chancing it? The mortgage : salary multiplier seems to be getting bigger.
There are big shortages not only of building materials but a wide range of commodities and items.
We have just had a major garden refurb done. Luckily no major material shortages but delayed from last year as the original man became ill and we had to wait for another to have a slot. We already had porcelain paving delivered last year.
We looked for a Keter storage unit but none to be had apart from an occasional one showing miles away. Reasons quoted were Covid reducing manufacturing and Suez blockage. Local B&Q suddenly had 51 come in so we pounced. They were being sold fast. A golfing mate ordered decking timber, paid, showed as in stock. Got told only half could be delivered due to stock shortage so a delay. He told them supply from another depot or he would cancel. No committing of stock to orders made.
Ikea also had shortages despite manufacturing most themselves.
There is a poster on Pistonheads who is a professional in Planning. He has revealed that Boris has sanctioned big changes in Planning rules to open up house building to meet shortfall targets. The poster is pulling his hair out over the changes that will allow developers to push through developments. He reckons the current laws are like a sieve but the new ones even worse.
Inflation? Definitely going up.