Home Improvement Materials for the Atlanta Athens Georgia Area

Cofer/Adams is your source for structural home improvement materials and replacement windows and doors. Call us for all of your lumber and building material needs, our helpful staff has answers to your questions. We can help you measure for replacement windows and doors; YKK AP Precedence™ Replacement Windows are designed to easily replace wood windows, and they qualify for the for 2009-2010 Energy Tax Credit. Another good way to beautify and make your house more energy efficient is with Therma-Tru fiberglass doors. Weather in the Atlanta - Athens GA area can be especially pleasing this time of year, a perfect time to enjoy relaxing on your new TimberTech deck! Let our experts help you with your treated lumber and composite deck project needs.
Send us a question or call us today (770) 995-3900 and let US help YOU Build YOUR American Dream Home!

Lumber Futures Fall after CN Railway Strike Ends, Construction Down in the Atlanta Athens GA Area

The CN Railway strike by 1,700 locomotive engineers that threatened to stall shipments of lumber, building materials and other products to the U.S. is over. E. Hunter Harrison, CN chief executive officer said “CN is pleased that an agreement has been reached to end the strike by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference immediately.” CME lumber futures closed lower yesterday, after being limit down on Wednesday.
New homes for sale in Atlanta are at a low for recent years. Only about 11,000 new homes are for sale in the Atlanta area, surprisingly low considering that about 110,000 were started in Atlanta in 2005. With only November and December numbers left to report, Atlanta is on track to start just over 4,000 new homes in 2009 (a decrease of about 96% from 2005). Home improvements in the Atlanta - Athens Georgia area have become the option of choice for most home owners; re-roofing houses, building decks and upgrading doors and windows have virtually replaced new home buying.

YKK Styleview Vinyl Windows and Doors for the North Georgia Area

Residential vinyl windows and doors from YKK AP® are beautiful, energy efficient and designed for years of trouble free use. Quality and innovation make YKK AP® windows clearly superior. By incorporating high performance glazing and corrosion-resistant hardware with a more architecturally correct profile design, YKK AP® offers windows with the look of a wood window at a price that delivers more value to you, whether you are a professional builder-remodeler or doing your own home-improvement project.
[caption id="attachment_1417" align="aligncenter" width="261" caption="YKK Styleview Windows and Doors for the Atlanta - Athens Georgia area"][/caption]
Call us at (770) 995-3900 for all of your building material and lumber needs.

Highest Prices in a Year Reached for Lumber and Building Materials

People who built a new house this year bought lumber at the lowest prices we have seen in the last 25 years.
[caption id="attachment_1432" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lumber Futures find new Trading Levels"][/caption]If you put off building a new home this year, you missed the lowest lumber prices in a quarter-century (don't worry yet though, mortgage rates are still low). Although lows for lumber typically occur in November, this year, due to a strange twist of supply and demand fate, November marks the highs for 2009. The invisible market forces of ongoing mill shutdowns / curtailments (reduced supply) and increasing new construction sales / starts (increased demand) have caused nearby lumber futures to jump 70% in only 10 months from near lows that haven't been seen since October 1985.
[caption id="attachment_1433" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lumber Futures Monthly Nearest"][/caption]
Quantities of both new and existing homes for sale in the Atlanta Athens Georgia area are also at multi-year lows.

Lumber and Building Materials Prices Pushed Up by Low Inventories

CME lumber futures were up limit two consecutive days two weeks ago, an increase of 10% that almost pushed prices to levels that would cover production costs. OSB prices went higher and order files moved well into December. At this point, more mills are shutdown than are operating. Even though demand is still weak, plywood and other building materials are marginally stronger due to thin supply. October housing permits and starts fell significantly from September, making unclear whether housing has bottomed at this point. The outlook for construction in the Atlanta - Athens Georgia area continues to be weak, particularly with seasonal slowness ahead. Georgia has lost another 18% of construction jobs since October 2008.

Therma Tru Doors for Atlanta & Athens Georgia

"Looks good on the outside, feels good on the inside." Therma-Tru fiberglass doors outperform wood and steel. Therma-Tru doors increase comfort, energy efficiency and performance AND you will also see an increase in curb appeal. Therma-Tru fiberglass and steel entry doors add beauty and security homes. You can increase the perceived value of your home by more than $24,000 just by adding a Thema-Tru entry door system. We have the doors you need to increase your home's value.

Check with us for lumber and building materials for your new home or remodeling projects.

October 2009 Housing Permits and Starts

News from the U.S. Census Bureau that October new residential construction fell to a six month low put intense pressure on CME lumber futures. Near term January lumber futures closed down $9/m and March fell $8/m. Inventory is slim at all levels of the supply chain, and demand for the available building materials is sparse. In our area, Georgia has lost about 310,000 jobs since September 2007, and projects to lose a total of 135,900 jobs this year and 35,000 next year. Unemployment in Georgia has reached 10.2%. Building permits in the Atlanta - Athens area are off about 97% from 2005. According to Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, permits will drop about 70% this year from 2008. Mortgage applications fell last week, with the index of home purchase applications sinking over 4%to the lowest level since November of 1997.

Home Prices in the US Clearly Headed in Right Direction, Lumber Prices a Little Higher

Here is some more good news for consumers and for the housing market - home prices in the Case-Schiller S&P Home Price Index increased in July by the most in nearly 4 years. Prices climbed in 18 of the 2o major cities in the index.
CME lumber ends little higher nearby in quiet trade
Chicago Mercantile Exchange lumber futures closed mostly a little higher on Monday amid thin short covering.
Cash lumber & building material prices in the Atlanta - Athens Georgia area showed little change.

Floods Damage & Destroy Thousands of Homes in Georgia, Lumber and Building Materials Needed For Rebuilding

As a result of flooding from torrential rains, thousands of homes and businesses in Georgia, hundreds in Atlanta alone, suffered some level of damage or were destroyed. 114 homes in the city of Atlanta alone were destroyed by the floods, with many more damaged or destroyed in suburban and rural areas. More homes were destroyed than have been built this year. Athens had more flooding rains over the weekend.
There are fewer new homes for sale than there have been since march of 1983, and there are far fewer existing homes for sale in Atlanta than there has been in several years. As homes are rebuilt and repaired, there will be a greater demand for lumber and building materials. If we use more green home building products for new construction, repair and home improvement, we will make the world we live in a better place.

New Home Sales approach 1 Year High, Lumber Futures Fall, Atlanta Flood Update

Higher numbers in the New Home Sales report were expected by lumber traders:
CME lumber ends lower amid underlying cash weakness
November lumber closed down $4.80 at $169.10 per thousand board feet and January off $2.90 at $193.10. Both months posted 2-1/2-week lows.
New home sales climbed 0.7% to 429,000, according to data released last Friday. The available supply of new homes for sale dropped to 262,000, the lowest number in over 26 years. This represents a supply of 7.3 months at the current sales rate.
Atlanta, Athens and North Georgia are expecting more rain this weekend. Fourteen counties are now eligible for FEMA disaster assistance.
Atlanta flood update: More FEMA relief, flash flood watch
Building materials are still in adequate supply, with only spot shortages of some items.

Doors Shuttered at Jeld-Wen's Oshkosh Door Manufacturing Plant

Our industry loses another valued producer of building materials.
End of an era: Jeld-Wen shuts down Oshkosh door plant
Jeld-Wen's Oshkosh door manufacturing facility closes after 154 years of manufacturing doors. This plant was one of the largest manufacturers of ornate wooden doors in the nation. Competition from fiberglass and metal doors, along with the economic decline, left no choice but to discontinue operations here. There are about 1,400 companies in the US wood window and door manufacturing industry with combined annual revenue of about $14 billion. The industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies control about 70 percent of the market. Demand for wood windows and doors is closely tied to residential construction activity, both new construction and remodeling. As these manufacturers cutail and shutdown, there will be smaller product lines and less supply for the Atlanta-Athens, Georgia area.
There are literally hundreds of lumber, plywood and OSB mills that have closed in the last 3 years. Some may re-open, but many have been dismantled and even transformed into different types of businesses, never to manufacture building products again.

Lumber Prices Rise, Rain in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia Grind Other Building Materials Prices Lower

Increased housing starts in August combined with thin field inventories drove lumber prices up. Delivery to jobsites was hampered in Georgia, especially in the Athens - Atlanta area.
CME lumber ends higher on firmer cash
'A midweek upswing in sales of Western S-P-F sparked the market. Wholesalers took cautious long positions and distributors more confidently replenished,' Random Lengths said.
Mills continue to shut down or curtail production, but that seem to give little support to other building materials. OSB and plywood mills still have some order files, but are under pressure from a lack of buying at secondary levels. Upward pressure on panel prices could result from any development of tropical activity in the Atlantic.
Tropical Storm "Grace" forming?
After a week-long quiet spell, the tropics are showing signs of life as a large area of low pressure takes shape in the central Atlantic.

October New Residential Construction Commentary

The above graph is a visual representation of the Seasonally Adjusted New Residential Construction & Sales data through October 2008. The lines represent Total Permits and Starts, Single Family Permits and Starts, Single Family Units Sold, Total Under Construction and Single Family Under Construction. It is worth noting that there have been several construction downturns since 1959, and that we are at levels that have triggered recovery in all of the past housing downturns.

Looking at Starts only, we see that Total Starts are the lowest they have been before beginning recovery, and Single Family starts are within a few thousand units of the lowest they have been before beginning to recover. Based on the permits we have see in the Atlanta area, November may give us new lows for all aspects of residential construction. Lumber and Panel prices are at or below sustainable levels, with many lumber items at multi-decade lows.

There are several unknowns at this point. Although the quantity of Single Family Homes for Sale is the lowest it has been since May, 2004, there is a 9.1 month supply available. Our economy is probably in a recession, and people don't tend to think about buying a home during a recession.

Capacity for single family residential construction continues to fall as builders, building material product suppliers, and lumber and panel mills continue to downsize or shutdown completely.

Lumber and housing permits/starts

As housing permits and starts fall, there is less demand for building materials used in new home construction. Without significant reductions in building material availability to reduce supply, prices of those materials will fall. There currently seems to be excess supply at every level of the building material chain, from the producers to the end users.

The lumber chart below illustrates the result of prices falling as demand from new construction falls, while the supply does not decrease.

Yesterday, there were more lumber contracts traded than there were total just five years ago. This tells us that an usually large number of lumber futures participants are placing bets. There were more participants willing to bet on lower lumber prices than higher lumber prices, which drove the price to a "limit down" state, halting further trades. I think that the large volume, coupled with the fact that it was “limit down” day, indicates that lumber prices will continue to fall. The total number of contacts being traded (bets being placed) is falling as well, indicating that fewer participants have an opinion about whether lumber will go up or down. Falling lumber prices make it more challenging for us, our suppliers and our customers. Buyers at each level who might buy think it is better to wait for even lower prices, less revenue is generated for the unit volume being sold and profits generated from those sales are less.