Originally Posted by gfretwell
Is steel frame an option?

To be fair Greg, it isn't just the US that's having issues with timber, one of the major timber mills here in NZ said last week that they will no longer be supplying places like Bunnings and Mitre 10 (think Home Depot and Lowes) as there is no value in them doing so.

So effectively, we have a situation where one-man band builders are going to try and stock-pile as much timber as they can to finish the work they have coming up, after that runs out, who knows what is going to happen.
If you're someone like me who does need small bits of wood for my work, I should be fine.

The whole up-shot of this is, the mills can close down, shedding hundreds of workers and they ship the logs to China,
because of the so-called "cost of production" and then they ship it back here again (how on earth is that sustainable or "green") and sell it back to us at a grossly-inflated margin/price, this really makes me angry. mad

Personally, If I build a house in the near future, it will have a steel structure and that is what a lot of people I know will do as well, timber has priced itself off the market, in a country that has radiata pine trees everywhere, but the "investors" are sitting on them to wait for a better log price.
We are all going to Hell in a hand-basket.