The owner of a well-established retail and wholesale building materials business in Manitowoc is seeing a vast improvement over recent months in terms of price and product availability.
Paul Braun of Braun Building Center on Menasha Avenue was a guest on “Welcome Home” on Tuesday, both on WOMT and WCUB Radio.
Braun spoke with host Brandon Bartow and referred to lumber and panels as commodities.
“Everybody talks about lumber and panels. OSB and 2x4s. We went through a period of time where prices were at levels we had never seen before,” Braun said. “$50 for a sheet of OSB, $20 for stud. It was unprecedented. Well, everything has come back to a very much historic norm for panels and lumber.”
Braun continued by saying they available and the mills are shipping on a regular basis.
“The freight issues have, I wouldn’t say disappeared but are almost insignificant. We can deal with it,” he explained.
On the other side of it, Braun said they’re busier than they’ve ever been by about 50%, but they’re managing and doing okay.
Other commodities like aluminum, steel, and vinyl that go into a lot of the products they sell are not going up anymore.
As a matter of fact, they are starting to see some price decreases.
