Price increases and shortages

[flowerbug]

my brother is a contractor and there are jobs that need bidding but he can't bid them because he doesn't know what shipping costs are going to be like and he just ate a loss on a job because they jacked his shipping up so much and the owners won't give him a break.

i know it isn't the responsibility of the owner or anyone to make a profit, but when you don't get bids on jobs anymore because the contractors don't know if they're going to get shafted or not that will be interesting times.

i'm not sure what the laws/rules are and if the bidders can put conditions on bids (like if shipping goes up it is covered by the contract). will ask him next time i see him.

in the meantime gas has come down to $3.65 here.

 

[seedcorn]

Bid the labor, allow home owner to purchase materials. Contractors have made $$ on material as well as labor. Have to adjust to times. We had to wait 2 months on cabinets that normally ship in 1-2 weeks. Getting dependable help is almost impossible as our contractor turned a 2 week project into almost 3 months-help wouldn’t show up for work and when they did, worked 1 hour of the 4-6 they were there.

Here, any decent workman is booked 5-6 months out. The really good are 1 year out

 

[flowerbug]

Bid the labor, allow home owner to purchase materials. Contractors have made $$ on material as well as labor. Have to adjust to times. We had to wait 2 months on cabinets that normally ship in 1-2 weeks. Getting dependable help is almost impossible as our contractor turned a 2 week project into almost 3 months-help wouldn’t show up for work and when they did, worked 1 hour of the 4-6 they were there.

these are commercial jobs, he doesn't do residential.

some jobs he used to get materials from overseas, so you have probably heard what shipping things from overseas has been like right? he's had some jobs cancelled or rebid because of materials not being available, etc.

Here, any decent workman is booked 5-6 months out. The really good are 1 year out

he's a good employer and subcontracts others, the people that work for him usually stick with him for many years. in one case he's working with 3rd generation as my grandfather and dad hired the parents.

 

[baymule]

I have a friend that builds metal buildings as homes. He has the owner but materials and hires crews to put it all together. The owners get a huge cut on costs, crews have work and friend makes enough to pay bills. Like @seedcorn says, gotta adjust to the times.

 

[ducks4you]

I was shocked that my greenhouse was delivered 6 days before the promised delivery date of 08-24-22. DD, who gets a lot of stuff shipped, believes that shipping has eased up.
I am concerned about the price of gasoline. Those strategic reserves are meant to be used for:
1) gas for the military
2) FEMA emergencies
When they refill those reserves it will be at a Higher price and WE will pay for it.
I fully expect the price of gas to explosively jump high after November 8th.
This "gas price holiday" is a political move.
Right now, it's still 2x the price of Early January, 2021.
We are SO fortunate that we grow our own food for our own consumption, and discuss ways to store.
2023 is gonna be a bad year.
KEEP stocking up on soap and non perishables. You won't need to replace them at what could be 3x as much as you paid in 2020 for the same things when groceries will continue to get more expensive, too.
Anybody can find closet space where you can stack boxes from deliveries full of such things. THAT"s where I would suggest storing tp and paper towels.
Good time to give away/throw away clothes you haven't worn in the last year and make some room in your closets.
Buy NOW if you need plastic storage bins, which, unfortunately have gone UP since I bought more late last year, but you can use in your basement. Put something in fron of those plastic bins so that nobody knocks into them and cracks them. DH decided to take an OLD storage bin on vacation last year, despite my reservations, and he cracked it. Not a bash, but just the truth...you have to protect them if you use them. ONLY a cat should sit on them.
I keep my stash of ERA detergent and Dawn directly on the floor of my basement.
You can use plastic storage bags for basement storage of powdered soaps/cleaners.
**Btw, I will probably use some Flextape to repair that bin and find another use for it...in my cubby hole off of an upstairs bedroom. I am the only one who goes into it, and I have to pretty much crawl around. I put down 3 area rugs some 8 years ago, when I floored it with staggered plywood pieces, so it's cushioned. Lots of storage space, 12 x 15, where the wall height slopes to the roof line.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Good time to give away/throw away clothes you haven't worn in the last year and make some room in your closets.

I suppose that really depends on both your current state of fitness AND you concept of just how bad things might get. If food got scarce/expensive enough people had to ration it more, a lot of them would lose some weight, and suddenly find their current clothes no longer fit them and their old ones did (it happens to me all the time).

And if things got REALLY bad, I probably would regret having tossed out a bunch of re-usable cloth, buttons etc.

In my experience, the ONLY time it is a good idea to throw something out is when there is absolutely, positively no use you can still put it to. Being truly prepared means stockpiling EVERYTHING, because there is NOTHING you can totally count on still having available.

 

[baymule]

I brought lumber today so I can figure out shelves for my closet. I took down those tacky wire racks that mobile homes have-and now-even $350,000 homes! Maybe I’ll put them up in the storage building. I got some brackets to make extra shelves in a couple of kitchen cabinets too.

Mainly I have to get moved in, see what I have and don’t have, available space and take it from there.

@ducks4you I like those plastic bins because I can see what’s in them. Plumbing fittings and supplies, hot wire fence accessories, painting supplies, etc. They are a great way to store little items that scatter everywhere and make a mess.

 

[ducks4you]

@Pulsegleaner , it's certainly Your call re: clothes, etc.
I realize that not everybody here has a 2 story house, with a full basement and with several attics (one is the cubby hole that I floored,) a 4 car garage, a barn and 2 outbuildings and 5 acres in which to store items.
I got to thinking about creating storage space for those less building/land fortunate than me.
My hay man delivers winter hay to people who keep horses and don't have space to store hay.
I Do wonder if some of them could buy a small building and pick up some free wooden pallets if they stayed home for a single horse show season, but THAT's not my call, either.
It was the LAND and the outbuildings and, especially the barn and it's storage that sold me on this property, and that was 1999, when the economy was good.
I DO think that most of us here have become very frugel and we can All learn from each other.

 

[flowerbug]

we've bought some clothes from the thrift store in recent weeks (i needed some new shorts and Mom wanted some long sleeved shirts for gardening). i think we spent all of $30 total. for some button down shirts that were likely $20-$40 brand new for each one. i have four pair of shorts and two new long sleeved shirts and Mom has four long sleeved shirts for her.

i normally wear clothes until they fall apart so i threw my old shorts away. Mom liked them so much that she took them out of the trash (without telling me), washed them and sewed them back together so i now have those again... the pockets were blown out and the seams were ripping out and i could see through them in spots. for around here it didn't matter to me what they looked like, but i was tired of having things falling out of the pockets - they were due for retirement. as it was they were hand-me-downs from someone else.

 

[flowerbug]

...
I am concerned about the price of gasoline. Those strategic reserves are meant to be used for:
1) gas for the military
2) FEMA emergencies
When they refill those reserves it will be at a Higher price and WE will pay for it.

considering it was likely put in there for much less we're probably making a nice profit. i kinda doubt that there will be much attempt to refill what is there as long as the price is high. after all. it isn't needed for electric cars and shouldn't be burned anyways if we can find other ways of doing the same thing. sell it while the price is high to generate some profit and build solar and wind towers and battery storage and more power transmission lines to move the juice around to where it's needed.