Is this true, steel trebles in price in 6 mths?

[eSteve]

Hi,

just updating a steel quote from Parker's steel:

In Sept they quoted £45.58 for:

36m 25 x 25 x 1.5 RHS ERW
12m 50 x 24 x 1.5 RHS ERW

(yes I know I forgot the 19 x 19! and have over spec'd the 50 x 25 but I have another small project to do)

I've just updated the quote today and it's £134.92

Also got a few other quotes for other suppliers any they are similar on a £/m basis.

What's happened? Anyone else noticed this or bought steel recently and can confirm this?

What about your prices' Saturn Andy have you seen a big cost increase?

If not I might be buying a flat pack from you!

[AshG]

steel has gone up by £50 per tonne in the last month or two. they reckon its going to go up another £50 by the end of the year. lack of demand is being blamed for the price increase.

[HandyAndy]

Hi Steve,

We at Saturn do seem to get a good rate, but that is probably due to the amount of steel we buy,

The cost for the steel to fully supply a Flat pack kit is alot less than the price you have been quoted on your recent enquiry,

Without trying to be "hard sell" , the price for the Flat pack that we supply is a very good deal indeed, when you factor in the cost of the steel & the time it takes to cut it into a fully cut/angled & marked up kit etc....£230 plus delivery is as was intended a fair price to all.

The kits are proving rather popular too which helps keep the cost to a realistic level.

cheers
andy

[eSteve]

Andy,

yes I agree. When the price was a lot cheaper my intention was to buy the steel and cut it myself. I know the cutting will be a devil of a job, but I already have the tools and time. The reason being not strictly for the cost saving (although that's nice) but for the kudos of saying 'I bought the steel and built the chassis'.

However, now, as you say, the cost of buying a flat pack from you would appear cheaper than buying the un-cut steel, I'm feeling I would be a masochistic, financially inept, buffoon to pursue sourcing the un-cut steel.

What is you current price on a flat pack? I am building a 'vanilla' book based car (i.e. type 9 g'box and Pinto).

eSteve

[eSteve]

Opps...

"appear cheaper than buying the un-cut steel"

this isn't true but they are now a lot closer than they used to be.

[AshG]

tbh with the current steel prices the flat pack is a disgustingly good deal. basically works out at £100 to have the steel cut for you. i know for a fact that it takes andy 2 solid days to cut out a flat pack and he has got it down to a fine art. personally i think £50 a day for his labour is too cheep as he is holding off the suppliers price increases for as long as he can.

personally if i was having a flat pack again i would order it straight away before the price inevitably has to go up.

[HandyAndy]

I totally understand your reasons for wanting to cut your own chassis, i really do understand that,
The price for a Flat pack kit which includes the following....

All square tubing to fabricate the main frame of the chassis (25mm & 20mm)

All angles cut & each end marked with the angle of the cut ( to allow easy orientation of the tube when using the book build info), also each tube has its I.D code ( TR1 TR2 etc)

The Front Frame is supplied jigged & fully welded.(saves making the jig)

Also in the kit is a paper template for your build table ( shows the position of the bottom rails)

All the above is £230 plus £40 delivery (tho you are welcome to arrange your own courier or collect in person etc)

Again, I,m not trying to "Hard sell", just trying to offer a good product at a fair price.

cheers
andy

[Enoch]

There is no wastage if you buy from Saturn either. If you make a mistake it invariably means some scrap steel. If Andy makes a mistake he cuts another bit and does not charge you any extra. He does a bloody good job too - well worth the money in my opinion.
Enoch

[RAYLEE29]

Hi, the price of steel has definately gone up loads over the last month and will probably continue to go up
this is possibly to do with Corus shutting theyre steel plants in england
does this make my almost complete chassis worth more ? lol
Ray:)

[HandyAndy]

Thanks Ash & Enoch....

right oh then.... prices go up at 6pm tonight :D ....only kidding :eek:

i do take pride in the kits i supply, but i,m only human & so if i do make a mistake i will replace the offending part at my expense, I,d rather have a happy customer ( Forum member /builder) than the cost of a piece of steel.

thanks for your kind comments guys, its very much appreciated :o :)

cheers
andy

[spud69]

I've just seen this post - time to go home.....;)

Haven't told HAndy yet, but last week when at our steel suppliers i asked the question about Corus closing down and they said that this will have no effect on their prices. But they did say that steel prices have been rapidly increasing over the last 3 months, for some products more than others. SO we are to expect some increases over the coming weeks but we are still getting good quality steel, 2mm thick box section (we both prefer it over 16swg) at trade prices.

But yes as you all say Handy puts an awful lot of work into the chassis packs and produces a great product for new builders and saves on expense on cutting discs and cutting machine purchases. He may have to increase prices shortly but this will only be to reflect cost of materials and not his effort and man hours that go into putting the packs together.

Keep it up.....AndyH :)

[fabbyglass]

I would say you are better off buying the flat pack as takes out a lot of the work to get your chassis made.:) And no I'm not on commision:D

[thwang]

if i was to start again i would defo buy one of andys packs.
thwang
p.s how many hours do you think you can save by useing one of andys flat pack

[HandyAndy]

if i was to start again i would defo buy one of andys packs.
thwang
p.s how many hours do you think you can save by useing one of andys flat pack

Thanks Spud / Fabby & Thwang,

Thats quite a good question Thwang, How many hours would it save using a flat pack kit? I,d like to know that too :)

Tho.... i will say this, I reckon if a builder had a flat pack & all CP plates ready at same time plus wishbones & uprights then with 2 good full days in a workshop you could have a rolling chassis in a weekend, Took me 11 weeks to get that far :eek:

now there,s a challenge for someone eh? :eek: :D

cheers
andy

[fabbyglass]

In a previous life when my limbs worked properly I used to cut and fabricate 2 chassis's and 2 sets of wishbones/uprights/pedals and engine mounts for a firm up in Sunny Sheffield so it would be a doddle to knock a chassis up in a day with it already pre cut for you....;)

[alga]

I've chatted to a steel stockie about prices, he told me they were at their lowest last summer, the price for some things fell three-fold! I bought all my box section then, ended up paying ~34 quid for all box section. It's Czech made, so the quality is OK while the price was perhaps a bit lower than Western European.

[davidimurray]

It really depends what you are looking at - strip production here in South Wales is currently flat out. We are selling as much as we can roll and regulalrly breaking production records. Interestingly almost half our strip now goes outside the UK. Structural section on the other side has been hit terribly and as a result production is well down. We are currently being hit by massive hikes in raw materials prices - potentially 80% in the next 6 months! The other big issue is the current security in the market. Where plants have been idled there is reluctance by manufacturers to reopen them in case we are simply seeing short term restocking demands and with suggestions such as a W shaped recession then companies are balancing risk of lost production against running a plant at a loss. The result - demand is high and so are prices. The redcar closure has had little affect on the market as it has been ticking over supplying Corus internal orders for the past year.

[ozzy1]

Most likely there will be large increases in steel because there will be large increases in the raw ore.This is down to bhp & rio tinto negotiating higher prices with china in the next few months.This will have a knock on effect to everyone because the other suppliers will be able to increase their prices upto or just below the bhp benchmark price negotiated as steel suppliers will have to pay it because they will not be able to get it any cheaper from anyone else.
Just as a note i work as a contractor to one of said large companies so this scenario is true unfortunately.