The cost of lumber has increased more than 300% since April 2020. Lumber sold for $348 per thousand board feet before the pandemic and peaked to a record high of $1,500 per thousand board feet in May 2021.  Thankfully, prices have begun to fall in the last few weeks.  I checked lumber prices today and they are around $935 per thousand board feet, which is still considerably higher than prices were when many of us started thinking building. And lumber prices fell several months ago and went back up, so we’re in unpredictable times. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit an episode that I did on 2 alternatives to traditional stick-built, lumber-framed homes. Those alternatives are Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and Insulated Concrete Forms, (ICFs). Both SIPs and ICFs provide both insulation and structural framing components for the house.   According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the cost of a standard 2,000 sq. ft. home has increased by $34K since April 2020.   A similar 2000 sq ft house built with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) also increased in price, but by only $8K or about 30%. Show notes at BYHYU.com www.facebook.com/BYHYU