DELAND, Fla. — The start to hurricane season is now just a few weeks away on June 1, but anyone looking to stock up on lumber may be surprised.

What You Need To Know

  •  Hurricane season starts on June 1, causing some residents to stock up on sheets of plywood

  •  The sheets, which are used to board up homes during a storm, cost 30-40% than they did a year ago

  • Demand and labor shortages have contributed to the price increase, experts say

New Smyrna Beach resident Ray Earhart has taken notice. The price for sheets of plywood, which are commonly used to board up homes for protection, is up about 30-40% from this time a year ago.

“I have seen the prices, whoa," he said. “Its frightening the stuff at the big box stores.”

The owner of Woodmaster Saw Mill in DeLand says the price of most woods is growing constantly, and its not slowing down.

“We are real busy, and we can’t even take in anything else right now,” Ben Dilalla said. “Customers would have to wait six months almost.”

The cost and wait has come to a shock for many people.

“I’m very surprised,” said Earhart, who is also a woodworker. “I would have thought it be the other way around.”

With the cost of plywood continuously going up and the supply continuously going down, some people have turned to yellow pine as a substitute. The wood is cheaper and works just as well as plywood when trying to board up windows during hurricane season.

The production of certain woods is down due to a lack of workers producing them, and the cost is going up due to the constant demand of building and home improvements.

“There’s towns that are just booming, like certain towns more than others,” Dalalla said. “Orlando has never really stopped, but St. Augustine, Mobile Alabama,.

Other types of wood can’t be found on the shelves either, which is why Earhart’s broadening his search to places off the beaten path, like wood mills.

“Oh I’m jazzed,” Earhart said while shopping at the mill. “I am really excited to see some of the dimensional wood they have back there.”

But the prices that might dampen some of that excitement.

According to the Woodmaster Saw Mill, business has about doubled in the last year due to people shopping around for better prices on wood. They are also, like many other businesses across central Florida, in need of workers to keep up with the current demands.