Final Thoughts

Add in the inevitable plan revisions halfway through construction, finding excuses to buy more tools, and learning how to tackle new tasks via YouTube tutorials. Every step leaves its mark, whether mental fatigue or a hammer’s stray strike on a thumb.

A personal perspective on Galvalume prices

In my never-ending search for more garage space to house my growing car collection, I recently set out to add an extension to my shop. And with that, my day job in the steel industry once again made its way into my personal life. I visited my local metal supply store to purchase some roofing panels – polar while, tough-rib, 29-gauge Galvalume, to be exact.

As the salesman rang up my order, something caught my eye… the price. I paid $3.75 per linear foot for a few hundred pounds of material. This number seemed low to me, as back in August 2020, I added a garage to my house and purchased similar material for only $2.75 per linear foot. How could this new steel be just a buck higher than years ago when steel prices are so much more expensive today?

Crunching the numbers

A quick look at the SMU steel indices tells that side of the story. This week, our Galvalume index averages $1,140 per short ton, excluding any width or coating extras. In August 2020, our index was $670/st.

We could dive into coating and painting extras, lead times, and freight costs (all of which are likely higher or longer today than in 2020), but for this comparison, let’s stick to the basics.

That’s at least a 70% increase in raw material costs. And yet, my price at the counter only went up by 36%. This goes to show how complex end-use pricing is, beyond just the cost of the raw material itself.

A picture says a thousand words

While waiting for the order to get loaded onto my trailer, I glanced around the yard at the prepainted coils and saw a familiar logo.

Chances are, the material I had just purchased originated from Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI’s) Columbus, Miss., mill, about 300 miles west of where I live near Atlanta. Funny enough, I toured that very mill last fall during our Steel 101 workshop. Was destiny at play?

This experience reinforced something I quickly came to understand when I entered the industry in 2010. Steel is much more than just a commodity; it’s a dynamic industry shaped by a complex web of market forces. From my project to a bridge to a cargo ship, it’s playing a vital role in every step of the economy.

So, as my shop expansion takes shape, I’ll take pride in knowing exactly where a piece of it came from. It would’ve been great to share this with someone helping me on the job. But, you know, people get busy. The next best thing is sharing it with all of you. We greatly appreciate your continued support.