price of deck stain up $5 per gal

[jeffex11 121]

I stopped by to check on some prices for 2009 to prep for pricing this year and much to my suprise my deck stain is up $5 per gal from the last purchase i made in 2008 . In a rough economy I don't know how business will be this year and this is tough to absorb. Gas is down but it is not a big expence compared to the stain. I'll hope for a big spring sale and buy in quantity I guess or I will have to raise prices in a tough economy

[Scott Paul 164]

I stopped by to check on some prices for 2009 to prep for pricing this year and much to my suprise my deck stain is up $5 per gal from the last purchase i made in 2008 . In a rough economy I don't know how business will be this year and this is tough to absorb. Gas is down but it is not a big expence compared to the stain. I'll hope for a big spring sale and buy in quantity I guess or I will have to raise prices in a tough economy

Stain prices have gone up 5-15% for the majority of the products we buy.

[jeffex11 121]

I'm sure its across the board due to transport costs and reflective of the price of oil when the stuff was made. I just hope for a sale as I am a litle uneasy about the start of the season as pressure washing is postponable as a service

[RPetry 564]

Jeff,

$5 per gallon in a single jump is a huge increase. What stain manufacturer(s) are you seeing this price increase?

[Greg R 82]

Jeff,

$5 per gallon in a single jump is a huge increase. What stain manufacturer(s) are you seeing this price increase?

Yea no kidding.... thats a 18% jump

[PressurePros 248]

What are you gonna do? Everything is going up. You pass the cost on to your customer. Everybody has to raise their prices even the lowballers. Charge 5 cents more per s/f and you'll be on even ground.

[jeffex11 121]

Olympic stain 3yr or 5yr went up $5 a gallon from last Sept. An average job for me takes 4-5 gallons or so and that has to be passed on to the customer.

Edited January 30, 2009 by jeffex11

[RPetry 564]

What are you gonna do? Everything is going up. You pass the cost on to your customer. Everybody has to raise their prices even the lowballers. Charge 5 cents more per s/f and you'll be on even ground.

Ken,

Not in this economic environment. Many material prices have been steady or declining. Check out the commodities indexes for the past year, a 40% decline in prices is not unusual.

Maybe Canada or India had a bad crop or there is a sudden demand for linseed oil. A flax shortage?

I do know that I could not raise our labor this coming season by over 20% and expect to gross or net last year's revenues.

[jeffex11 121]

i'm going to bid my usual price per sq. ft and add the $5 per gal on the estimate for the # of gallons. I do not itemize on the estimate or bill ..just the final labor and materials price. the simple fact is last years pricing may have been at a peak! I will do what I always do. Let the season and demand dictate my pricing . I may steer towards house washing more if I miss too many bids. there is some wiggle room on my pricing for deck work but at some point I'll just have to concentrate on other work. eating $20 or $25 bucks is not a big deal if I can get last years pricing but all that will remain to be seen! There is more of a threat of lowballers trying to supplement thier incomes and break into the business due to the #'s of layoffs driving prices down.

Edited January 31, 2009 by jeffex11

[RPetry 564]

Received an interesting email from a stain manufacturer. In April of 2008, their linseed oil cost increased from $3.50 to $7.50 per unit, which I assume is per gallon. Due to high demand and short supply, distributors were allocating linseed oil to their better customers. In addition, due to the then high cost of crude oil, shipping costs as well as mineral spirits (a petroleum distillate) also increased dramatically.

Apparently, Canada has had two years of poor flax crop production. But due to lack of demand in the 4th quarter, as well as a "terrible" 2008 for national paint companies, demand for linseed oil has dropped dramatically. Supply is again available, with prices dropping off of last year's peak.

[plainpainter 217]

What are you gonna do? Everything is going up. You pass the cost on to your customer. Everybody has to raise their prices even the lowballers. Charge 5 cents more per s/f and you'll be on even ground.

Or you could what residential painters do - when the world becomes more expensive, products, insurance, labor, trucks - they just simply drop their price even more to counter the price increases. Makes sense, eh?

[Greg R 82]

Received an interesting email from a stain manufacturer. In April of 2008, their linseed oil cost increased from $3.50 to $7.50 per unit, which I assume is per gallon. Due to high demand and short supply, distributors were allocating linseed oil to their better customers. In addition, due to the then high cost of crude oil, shipping costs as well as mineral spirits (a petroleum distillate) also increased dramatically.

Apparently, Canada has had two years of poor flax crop production. But due to lack of demand in the 4th quarter, as well as a "terrible" 2008 for national paint companies, demand for linseed oil has dropped dramatically. Supply is again available, with prices dropping off of last year's peak.

My issue exactly.... if your costs have increased pass it on to the consumer. If they've decreased I would hope they would also pass it onto the consumer. Unfortunately 08's crazy supply and demand and speculation issues have instilled fuel and material surcharges too many of the products we use daily. The odd thing is now that things have pulled back SUBSTANTIALLY and are far lower than operating costs from previous years the surcharges still seem to be in place. Yes...I completely understand that in many markets revenues are not what they were but geez. Our chem supplier for example still charges us a fuel surcharge equiv to the peak of oil in 08' even though the fuel costs are half what they were.

[James 624]

Freight and Transportation companies made out like bandits during the Gas hike! Gas just went up 30 cents in the last 2 weeks here ?

[jeffex11 121]

usually by now I have some calls from people wanting to be first in the spring for deck cleaning but none so far. they are usually previous customers who know to book early. For the past 4 yrs I have even had some work I couldn't finish before the weather got too cold from the previous year. Not so this year. Not a good sign of things to come but it could turn out to be a great year as well...who knows

[RPetry 564]

Greg,

I would agree, except that from what I understand, many stain manufacturers were unable to quickly pass on much of last year's sudden spike in linseed oil prices. I would guess that they may be trying to catch up.

It does not look like they, as well as linseed oil users, are out of the woods yet. From a Canadian (40% of the world's flax production) report dated 12/12/08 -

Flaxseed (excluding solin)

Production has increased by 36% from the below-normal 2007-08 crop, to just over the 10-year average. However, total supply is up by just 3% due to significantly lower carry-in stocks. Exports are forecast to decline due to reduced industrial demand related to the current world economic slowdown. Carry-out stocks are expected to rise by 16%, but remain below the 10-year average. Prices are expected to decline by about 10% due to lower vegoil and crude oil prices, and reduced demand resulting from the slowdown in world economic growth.

Source: Market Analysis Division:Canada: Grains and Oilseeds Outlook

India, China, and the US, specifically North Dakota, supply most of the remaining world production.

Kind of surprising the year to year variability of flax produced in Canada. A 10 year chart is here:

Flax Council of Canada

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Ken,

Not in this economic environment. Many material prices have been steady or declining. Check out the commodities indexes for the past year, a 40% decline in prices is not unusual.

Maybe Canada or India had a bad crop or there is a sudden demand for linseed oil. A flax shortage?

I do know that I could not raise our labor this coming season by over 20% and expect to gross or net last year's revenues.

I agree with you Rick.

Beth

[PressurePros 248]

Wait until the hyper inflation period hits in a couple years because of all this money being dumped into the economy.

Rick, you may be surprised what raising prices 20% will do for your bottom line. Depending upon how much you gross, a 20% increase would allow you to do 40% less work and make the same profit. I'm not advocating anyone do that but eating cost increases is slow suicide. You bring up a good point about the current deflationary trend. I'm still waiting for it to reflect in the cost of milk, bread and eggs and all the rest of my consumables.

[jeffex11 121]

hyper-inflation is usualy the case after a period of deflation. The thing that is saving us is the global deflation of many economies that depend on the US to buy their stuff. Many other countries held our debt as well and have taken that hit too. I was al little worried last year at this time and had a great year . This year will be a test of our business skills.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

I'm still waiting for it to reflect in the cost of milk, bread and eggs and all the rest of my consumables.

:lol:What, you have not seen milk go from $2.50 a gallon to $4.50 a gallon in like 2 years? I need to shop where you shop! :lol: Prices on groceries began to rise about a year after 9/11 when gas went up, and they have been going up since, especially the last two years. :lol: No more .33 cents a can tuna!

Beth :lol:

[James 624]

Costco 2.89 a gallon ( milk)

[James 624]

What wood happen if the Auto industry increased there prices 20% right now ?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

What wood happen if the Auto industry increased there prices 20% right now ?

Kaboom..... :lol:

Beth

[jeffex11 121]

the only real adjustment I can make as a solo opperator is to raise prices to recover cost increases or take less profit and eat cost increases. I have a lawn business as well and I am going to push sales in that for the first time in many years as pressure washing is a postponable service . I will not panic since my income is diversified but there is apoint where I will sit at home and drink beer rather than work just to break even . I can afford to wait out the economy rather than set my pricing back 10 years. Many of my customers are repeat and call every 2-3 years for deck cleaning . My plan is to stick to my price per square foot of the last 2 years and tack on the additional cost of stain based on my records from their last service.