PVC Shortage

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tom baker

tom baker

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Master Electrician
I was out of town for 5 days and not checking the forum on a regular basis.
We've been notified by our supply house of a serious PVC conduit shortage (related to the hurricanes-no raw materials to make the conduit from) and PVC conduit has doubled in price. Currenlty there is no 1" or 2" available from one wholesaler and others are also nearly out. I'm in the Seattle area, is this happening elsewhere?
 
Re: PVC Shortage

Tom,

I haven't heard of shortages yet but the prices on projects that are bidding currently are up over 100%. I have had electrical contractors request variance from the specifications to use EMT in elevated slabs to reduce their exposure on projects that bid before this issue.
-Ed
 
Re: PVC Shortage

I bought some 1 1/2 at big orange for $3.79 a stick and thought that was too high but supply house wanted over $6.This was 2 weeks ago
 
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Lowes and Home Depot both have good inventory on hand last time I checked, and the price was still pretty low. This was only yesterday.

This price increase will no doubt affect wire too.
 
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I do some work at a dairy, and they are being rationed on plastic they use to make milk jugs. Only a very limited supply. They actually terminated some agreements with wal-mart on tampico and other juice products to insure they have enough plastic for milk jugs. By the way, this dairy is part of a huge national chain (10 times larger than kraft foods)
 
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Update:
Lowes has no PVC conduit
4 " PVC 3 weeks ago was $90 per hundred
Today its $330 if you can get it...
due to a shortage of petrochemicals to make the resin, the PVC plants don't have power, Nat Gas has gone up in cost, no trucks to deliver.
Shortage expected to last until Jan.
 
Re: PVC Shortage

Yep, the boss wants us to do look-aheads for the job and order as much wire as we can project, because the price is going to take another hike.

Tom,

We noticed that PVC prices shot up, here in Everett, right after the hurricane hit. Unfortunately, we have a huge duct-bank job that requires 1000's of feet of 2" and larger.
 
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This subject came up at one of my supply houses this week. They can't even place an order for PVC and was given the same reason - shortage of petrochemicals. However, they also believe that when the big "rebuild" happens that a glut of PVC will suddenly and mysteriously appear and will be sold to the government at prime rates. Remember the hammer and the toilet seat that was sold to the govt. for $500.00 ? I think that when this event finally comes to fruit we will be seeing shortages of many types of building materials like plywood, sheetrock, joint compound, roofing materials, windows, doors, etc.

[ October 08, 2005, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: goldstar ]
 
Re: PVC Shortage

I bought 4" sched 40 PVC yesterday @ $205.87 per 100'. Sched 80 was $330.55. 2" sched 40 was $75.38 per 100'
 
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With the shortage of pvc we will likely see more use of emt and that price will rise again as well.Drywall has already started to rise.My guess is they are stocking up so they will have it when it reaches a number they like.Price gouging is the name.
 
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I just bought a 250' roll of 12-2 at the orange store. It was $48.90! What's up with that???


Can we boycott until the prices settle?
 
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In some cases this type of gouging has a positive side to it. When I was young, my parents would whine about having to come up with that $35 dollars every month for the mortage on the new 4 bedroom waterfront house we had in Fort Myers Fla. By the time I was a teenager we had rampant price increases which led to a temporary nationwide price and wage freeze. After the dust settled, my old man stopped whining, because wages had risen up so much that the grand sum of $35 bucks seemed pretty little all of a sudden. I am looking forward to charging and getting $200 an hour. That will make me feel like I'm a lawyer or something. It will make the mortage payments for my Hawaii pad, which are fixed seem a bit easier.
 
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Mac,

That's wishful thinking but I don't think it's going to end up that way in reality. With gas prices going up people have a tough enough time swallowing the $100.00/hr fees we charge now. As much as I would like to join you in Hawaii the fact is that if we start charging double they're incomes are going to have to go up double. I think the bubble is going to burst sooner rather than later.
 
Re: PVC Shortage

I got pricing on some PVC today, $59/C for 1". My supplier told me they asked the manufacturer for a quote so they could place a large order, the manufacturer told them they didn't have any to send and didn't know when they will.

:(
 
Re: PVC Shortage

Originally posted by jimwalker:Price gouging is the name.
Click to expand...
But they are all donating all of their extra profits to relief of the hurricane victims, aren't they? :confused:
 
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