Replies

1. 
   RW | May 16, 2006 12:54am | #1

   And it's going to keep going that way. But last Friday my sparky told me any orders he had in by the end of the day he could still get 14-3 for $265/1000.  You're still cheaper. Crazy, ain't it?

   "Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton

2. 
   xxPaulCPxx | May 16, 2006 01:10am | #2

   Whew!  Just bought 12-2/250 at Lowes for $85 - must have just missed the price spike!

   Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA

   Also a CRX fanatic!

1. 
   DonK | May 16, 2006 01:27am | #3

   I went to the plumbing supply last week to pick up a tub and some associated stuff. The price of the Delta single handle faucet went up from $75 to $81. I told the guy that It's nice to take  scrap copper down and get a nice price for it, but you sure pay for it on the other end.

   I need to buy baseboard soon for the whole unit I'm working on, I don't relish the thought of what that's going to cost.

   Don K.

   EJG Homes     Renovations - New Construction - Rentals

3. 
   zak | May 16, 2006 02:03am | #4

   Holy cow.  I bought my last roll a couple months ago, for $50 for 250' of 12/2.  I'm glad I bought it- at the time I was grumbling about how the same thing was $22 2 or 3 years ago.

   I wonder how much of it is speculative- I've noticed that copper co. stocks have been doing quite well recently, I think people buy it as a way to coattail on residential+commercial building booms.

   zak

   "so it goes"

1. 
   JulianTracy | May 16, 2006 02:40am | #5

   I've heard that it's the PVC sheathing - not the copper. Something about the oil that's used in the production of it.After all - 1/2" copper pipe has not tripled in price in the last 2 years.Not sure if it's true, but interesting to think about.JT

1. 
   zak | May 16, 2006 02:56am | #6

   I've heard that too.  I just can't swallow that there is $60 worth of pvc in a roll of 12/2.  How much does a roll weigh, anyway? 15 lbs?zak

   "so it goes"

2. 
   oldbeachbum | May 16, 2006 02:59am | #7

   ....SHHHHHHH......

    

   don't give THEM any ideas !!!...two wrongs don't make a right, but... three lefts do... :)

3. 
   Snowmon | May 16, 2006 05:35pm | #21

   "I've heard that it's the PVC sheathing - not the copper. Something about the oil that's used in the production of it."

   Mostly natural gas

   "After all - 1/2" copper pipe has not tripled in price in the last 2 years."

   I think it has.  While mined materials are certainly way up, a large fraction of the price increase can be attributed to the declining dollar.

   Dollar to Euro

   Dollar to Yen:

   View Image

   Edited 5/16/2006 12:22 pm ET by Snowmon

1. 
   joeh | May 17, 2006 12:13am | #26

   Your 2 charts indicate nothing of the sort.

   $ to Yen over 2 years is almost even,

   View Image

   $ to Euro is close too, this has zip to do with the price of Romex.View Image

1. 
   Snowmon | May 17, 2006 02:04am | #28

   "Your 2 charts indicate nothing of the sort."

   Certainly is a significant factor in the recent rapid run up. 

2. 
   JohnSprung | May 16, 2006 03:10am | #8

   Here I've been kicking myself for not being able to find the receipt so I could get my money back on that extra roll of UF.  Could be headed for the wire version of ticket scalping....  ;-) 

    

   -- J.S.

    

1. 
   zak | May 16, 2006 03:24am | #9

   I'll start the bidding at a pack of cigarettes and a rusty pocket knife.  I'll throw in a couple marbles for shipping. ; )

   I'm pretty glad that this roll will do the rest of my house.zak

   "so it goes"

1. 
   pm22 | May 16, 2006 03:41am | #10

   My foreman told me today that the electrical distributers won't sell copper wire now since the price flucuates so much. He said the company has to buy 500' rolls of THHN from Loew's or Home De Pot.

   ~Peter, Fiction Editor for Foreign Affairs Magazine

   Only 45 days left for the great Seattle-Tacome temblor.

1. 
   BossHog | May 16, 2006 04:04am | #11

   Anybody know why copper is so high?Are they sending it all to Iraq?(-:
   I know I'm narrow minded. But I can afford to be - I'm right.

4. 
   Stuart | May 16, 2006 04:07am | #12

   Copper and PVC are both real expensive these days.  I haven't heard from the local electricians recently, but I know last fall it was just about impossible to buy pvc conduit at any price.

1. 
   caseyr | May 16, 2006 04:37am | #13

   Today's market report on copper: "May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Copper futures in Shanghai fell for the first day in seven amid concern that a 24 percent gain in the same period may have been overdone."Copper for delivery in August fell as much as 3,350 yuan, or 4 percent, to 80,210 yuan ($10,022) a metric ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange." I recently read a comment on a commondities website that copper had gone up 375% since the beginning of 2003 - and I think that was before the recent runup. The rapid expansion of China and other developing countries is commonly cited for the runup in copper and steel prices.

2. 
   migraine | May 17, 2006 01:55am | #27

   10' stick of 3/4"PVC electical conduit was $8.89 at the Big box yesterday.

   PVC fittings are cheaper at the local ACE store than Home Depot by about 10-15%.  evenmore with my 10% discount.  Plus the Ace store stocks all the various configurations, unlike HD 

5. 
   MSA1 | May 16, 2006 04:37am | #14

   I was in Lowes last thursday and saw a 1000' roll of 12/2 for $225. Today it was $395. DOH!!!

   I was in depot this past weekend and 12/2 was $97 for 250'. Unbelievable.

   At least studs are down to about $2.51.

   Between parts, and peoples "brother-in-laws" i'm not gonna make anything this year.

6. 
   Matt | May 16, 2006 12:43pm | #15

   Copper is possibly the #1 theft item for jobsite theft around here.  By in large, we don't have too much trouble with theft of materials, copper being the exception.  Current job we had a 500' roll of copper tubing (1 1/4" I think) stolen. 

   If the electricians leave rolled up romex hanging under a house - like the often do, it's very common for thieves to come cut it out - and it's happened on my jobs too.  I've even heard from he sparkies about thieves tearing the romex out of a roughed in house.

    

1. 
   Taylor | May 16, 2006 01:10pm | #16

   In Costa Rica they were noticing a lot of copper being exported to the US. Costa Rica isn't renowned for its copper resources.Turns out the exporters were ripping up the big network and telephone cables laid down by the telcos in the ground.

1. 
   JohnSprung | May 16, 2006 09:06pm | #22

   I wonder what became of the old transatlantic and other undersea telephone cables.  That first one was 375,000 tons of copper, and went dead a long time ago.  Perhaps it'll become cost effective to recover them.  

    

   -- J.S.

    

2. 
   DaveRicheson | May 16, 2006 01:22pm | #17

   They are stealing the grounds off our utility poles. 

   There was an electrocution a few weeks ago at the old munitions manufacturing plant in Charlestown IN. A contractor doing demo work at one location on the site lost track of one of his employees after the lunch break. Found the guy at another location,...toasted. He had been ripping out copper wiring and buss work in spite of the warning signs about potential energized circuits.

   We have had breakins at our service centers where they attempt to steal whole reels of wire. Think 1000+ lbs on a 5' diameter spool, and some yokel trying to get it off a wire trailer and on his 1/2 ton PU :-) The security videos where too funny! Looked like an old Laurel and Hardy movie right up to when the cops arrived.

    

   Dave

3. 
   G80104 | May 16, 2006 04:11pm | #18

     We have also had the copper Cold Water bonds clipped, they get maybe $20 of copper. By the time were done it cost us $350-$400 t0 install a new Bond after Drywall.

7. 
   northeastvt | May 16, 2006 04:30pm | #19

   doitall,

    Checked the price3 weeks ago, $52 for 12-2, $107 for 12-3. One week later I paid $69 for 12-2 and $131 for 12-3. "Now" I think I got a great deal! Glad I stocked up, but it sure hurt at the time.

   northeastvt

8. 
   Sasquatch | May 16, 2006 05:08pm | #20

   The big boxes have sold us all those wonderful tools at some pretty good prices over the last ten years.  Canadian lumber is in control.  Small competitors have been pushed to the sidelines.

   Now they are closing in for the kill.  Materials.  Get used to it.

9. 
   Sawyer | May 16, 2006 09:19pm | #23

   Bought a 500' spool of 3/0 at Home Depot in February for $800. Last week it was $990 at the same store. Instead of returning copper wire to the store maybe it should go on eBay?

10. 
    JohnT8 | May 16, 2006 10:54pm | #24

    As of 30 mins ago, the roll of 14-2 I paid $130 for back in Feb is now going for $255 at Lowes.  The 1k' 12-2 which was running $150-180 back then is now priced at....

                            $408

    For that kinda change, I'm gonna be sitting in the dark.  I'm sure as Hell not shelling out $400/roll.

     

    jt8

    "The difference between greatness and mediocrity is often how an individual views a mistake..."-- Nelson Boswell

11. 
    reddog | May 17, 2006 12:07am | #25

    ALL,

    We're commercial electrical contractors in Alaska and do a lot of harbor work.  One harbor rewire uses somewhere around 150,000 pounds of copper in the form of type W cable.  Type W isn't the kind of wire you can just go pick up at HD or Lowes.

    Since the price of copper is going so crazy, we track the price often.....sometimes several times a day.

    When we first started looking at copper prices at the end of 2003, it was $0.62/lb.  Last week, it got as high as $4.17. 

    It's no longer possible to get a quote for anything made of copper.  They give us a price based on a certain price per pound, but tell us that we will be billed for the actual price on the day it ships from the factory. 

    Here's how that translates to a job.  We were bidding a job last week that had $135,000 worth of cable in it.  That price was based on $3.42/lb.  By mid afternoon, the price had risen $5400.  Makes it a bit hard to bid a job when this is going on.  By the time we're billed, the price might have gone up a $1 or more.  Thats another hundred thou or so.

    Given our situation, I can't feel too sorry for someone who has to accommodate a measly $300 rise in wire prices.  Call HD for a price.  Put it in your price.

    Reddog

12. 
    northeastvt | May 17, 2006 05:12am | #29

    doitall'

      Check this out . Abuchon hardware.12-2 179.99 ???? I am sitting on a gold mine! I could make more selling the wire from my next job, than I can doing the job!@! hhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............

    northeatvt