A Wooden Roller Coaster

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of life. Supply chains for everyday staples and luxury goods have been disrupted, expectedly impacting prices for all members of those chains, as well as end users.

Among the most widespread and significant of these disruptions concerns something most people may have taken for granted until recently: lumber, and the impact it has had on the building industry, along with other important materials.

The totality of the impact of the lumber shortage has ramifications beyond construction and will impact insurance and construction claims as well.

Lumber is the end product of a series of processes that begins with trees, or timber. Once a tree is felled, it is transported to a sawmill, where it is then processed into a finished product, such as OSB (oriented strand board) or plywood.

That finished product is then transported to lumber yards and hardware retailers for sale. Thus, the price of lumber is dependent upon each of these production processes.