2026 Hardwood Purchasing Plans: Fingers Are Crossed For 2026 After An Unpredictable 2025
Compiled by Lara Stearsman and Barbara Ann Powell
This year’s annual report, gathered by National Hardwood Magazine, consists of the responses from 14 hardwood lumber buyers located across the U.S. whose companies offer a variety of products to a diverse customer base.
The majority reported noticing that White Oak was demanded the most out of their product offerings with Red Oak or Walnut close behind. Many intend to make changes to their company by adding new products to increase sales or adhere to customer needs while others don’t intend to change.
Labor was listed as the primary concern. Finding skilled employees appeared to be difficult in 2025 and it may, according to sources, become more challenging. Several companies plan to combat this crisis by increasing wages, using online platforms such as LinkedIn to simplify recruitment or placing advertisements on social media and visiting job fairs.
Gat Caperton
Gat Creek
Berkeley Springs, WV
Compared to 2025, lumber buying pricing should trend up slightly. Not exactly a “dead cat bounce,” but they will start a slow climb up.
Maple, Walnut and White Oak are all growing in sales, while Cherry continues to struggle.
We moved to a Performance Finish (2K Acrylic Urethane) that is more durable, clearer than the catalyzed lacquer we used to use and has zero formaldehyde. This will drive growth for us in 2026. We are also adding more White Oak products.
The biggest challenges for our company going into 2026 are skills training and quality.
Labor is a challenge, and we are doing all kinds of stuff to address it, including raising wages.
John Kestly
Boehm-Madisen
Waukesha, WI
I think housing will heat up due to interest rate cuts in 2026. Unfortunately, green production is way down, so I am thinking we will see widespread shortages.
Poplar, White Oak, Walnut and Soft Maple sold well in 2025. Red Oak, Hard Maple and Cherry struggled.
White Oak and Soft Maple were two species preferences I noticed this past year.
Health insurance cost increases and the sourcing of hardwood lumber would be the biggest hurdles we may face going into 2026.
Clay Miller
Aurora Timberland
Bradford, ON
The answer for this year, regarding how I anticipate our lumber buying prices to change in 2026 compared to 2025, would be like what I thought a year ago before the tariffs — there is now endemic undersupply in the market. This undersupply has been masked by a few years of very soft demand. It is not a matter if there will be a surge in new home construction in North America. It is a matter of when. I have spent a lot of time over the past few months explaining the current macro-economic factors to our customers and trying to explain to them that they should brace for price appreciation. Downstream demand is going to come back much faster than shuttered mills can start back up or closed mills can be brought back online. The market dynamics in the next up cycle are going to be uniquely different than the past decade. Those who have the production and the sawmills will be able to dictate prices and hold those prices.
Our 3/4 Walnut products into the Vietnam market have been very good sellers for us. We are thankful to have developed an incredibly loyal customer base there. Aurora Timberland has spent several years developing a brand on this product, and we really saw the fruits of that labor in 2025. This year, we sold more 5/4 and 8/4 FAS Red Oak than we have in several years. Our stair and railing customers seemed to stay steady throughout the whole year, and we were able to make some inroads in new markets, which boosted the board footage out the door. Domestically, Poplar sales were soft compared to other years. Many of our customers in the interior millwork space were slower, and customers who traditionally bought a load or two a month, changed their buying habits to more just-in-time lift lot purchase.
Aurora Timberland had a good deal of customers moving up the value chain from standard Walnut grades to Oak ruling Walnut. Walnut, overall, was very strong for us both domestically and in Vietnam. It seems the trend is that there is less demand for bright, white products and more for the darker, more rustic look. This should bode well eventually for domestic Cherry consumption. Eventually.
In September of this year, we started offering lift lot distribution throughout New York and Pennsylvania. For the past three years, we have been servicing these markets from our facility in Alexandria, ON. To best serve our customers, we started shipping from our distribution center in Pittston, PA. This has gone well for us. I think the customer service and value proposition we can offer in this market is something that the customers in this footprint really crave. In 2026, we are going to further expand our reach and go into the New York City metro area, Philadelphia, and the entire tri-state area. We have identified this area as a great potential growth area. I really believe the future of this industry is going to be just in time shipments in smaller volumes per shipment. Our new distribution network in the Northeast will be positioned well for this.
Aurora Timberland’s biggest challenge is going to be what we focus on every day — how can we align with our key supply partners to offer the absolute best value to our customers? It seems every year, our customers are asking us to solve more complex problems for them. The market is trending outside of the standard National Hardwood Lumber Association grading rules. More customers are telling us each day, “We know what the NHLA rules say, but we need this…” This is a challenge for our company and for the entire industry. This trend is not going to end. I think AI grading is a great step into the future and a tremendous benefit for our industry. But I think over the next few years, it will be challenging as more customers want and demand products outside of the standard NHLA grading rules.
Eric Boer
Mason’s Mill & Lumber
Houston, TX
Coming out of a somewhat volatile 2025, we are cautiously optimistic for a stronger and more stable 2026. Home starts and commercial construction in our market are on the uptick, so we anticipate a modest increase in sales of milled products, decking and cladding.
Poplar is our biggest specie volume-wise and will continue to be so given the amount of paint grade mouldings we produce. White Oak started the year strong, but demand settled down as prices continued to climb. We had to be a little strategic for both of these species throughout 2025 as far as purchasing goes. We were able to keep our inventories at satisfactory levels with a little planning. Most other species remained pretty stable with fairly prompt availability all year.
I expect those trends to remain the same, at least through Q2 2026. We keep forward orders placed on the species we utilize the most so don’t anticipate any real issues, other than hopefully increasing volumes to reflect an increase in millwork business. We planned accordingly on our import decking species going into 2025 with Ipe and Cumaru going on the CITES appendix and had good inventories arriving when real shortages began taking place.
While we positioned ourselves well for 2025 into 2026 on the imported hardwood decking, we still continue to see a surge of interest and demand in thermally modified woods for many applications. We have embraced these products and species and have grown our thermally modified woods volume significantly. They truly hit many high points that architects seek out in wood species in today’s market, including enhanced stability, rot resistance and no chemical preservatives.
Not so ironically, the biggest challenges we have faced in 2025, and will continue to see in 2026, revolve around thermally modified woods. From subpar material making its way into the market and unskilled modifiers to unrealistic customer expectations, our experience with thermally modified woods continues to be a learning curve. They have opened up a lot of opportunities where hardwoods were not necessarily the first choice of species and we will continue to promote and sell them.
Dan Cox
Peach State Lumber
Kennesaw, GA
I see the market mixed for 2026 depending on the species. We are hearing about price increases in White Oak and Soft Maple, while decreasing prices in Walnut and Poplar. With a milder winter forecast and a decrease in demand overseas, availability for domestic distribution should be good to start the year.
The Southeastern market, especially metro Atlanta, GA, still demands White Oak (both FAS and Rustic), Poplar, and Soft Maple. We saw increases in Cherry and Walnut. Demand was down for Alder, Hickory and Ash. Hardwood panel products demand was higher and is replacing solid lumber in some jobs. With labor scarce and expensive, we would expect more movement toward panel products in 2026.
The consumer cycle for White Oak may have reached its apex. White Oak has dominated over the last five years if not longer. Maple is the preferred paint grade option. As consumers search for the next great look for their home, we may see some darker woods such as Walnut and Cherry return.
Any value added to help in a tight labor market will help. We expect an increase in more S4S requests and width sorts in key species. Having a diverse inventory of that and the ability to deliver quality lumber in a short turnaround, mean we will see increased sales for 2026.
As for the biggest challenges we may face in 2026, we are seeing large increases in general liability and auto insurance along with increases in health insurance for employees. All affect the bottom line and our driving prices. Tariffs on imported panel products will also be hard to absorb for most distributors. Quality labor will always be key to success for any distributor. We will look to add slowly to our staff to start the year.
Overall, we are optimistic for 2026. With the World Cup and other large events occurring in Atlanta, we expect more restaurants, hotels, and other hospitality groups to demand quality hardwood lumber for their facilities.
Ed Crumrine
Missouri Hardwood Products
Brighton, MO
We expect our lumber buying prices to stay pretty similar to 2025. The market this year has been up and down but overall, for us it has been relatively even.
White Oak hardwood flooring has sold very well here. Mostly sizes between 3 1/4” and 5” have been our big sellers. The products that have struggled to sell are our No. 3 Common flooring. Mostly, the smaller sizes have been tough to get out but our larger sizes weren’t as difficult.
White Oak seemed more preferred this past year in our experience. Although Red Oak has been easier to come by, it seems like there was more demand for White Oak.
We don’t have any ideas as of now about new products or services, but we are always looking for better ways to serve our customer base. Whether it be introducing new products or introducing new services to help their buying experience!
Our biggest challenge currently is labor. We are addressing this issue by mentioning it in our radio ad and putting up ads on our social media pages. It has been working well so far for us so, until we fill every position, that’s what we will continue to do.
Ben Johnson
White River Hardwoods
Fayetteville, AR
I anticipate a moderate buying price increase of six to nine percent in 2026.
White River has primarily been focusing on high-end architectural hardwood products. Made in the USA is a primary portion of our sales with manufacturing in Arkansas. Design services, CNC and priming are some additional services for our discerning customers along with award-winning customer service and prompt lead times. We offer both a wide range of stock items along with custom and restoration products for both commercial and residential projects. We cover industries from kitchen and bath, to building and design and furniture, allowing our customers and specifiers to continue designs and support throughout the entire project.
As for products that have sold well in 2025, White Oak and Walnut have increased for specialty wall panels. Poplar is still the main source for long length mouldings.
White River continues to grow our segment of the industry; we have added a summer 2025 catalog that has over 300 new products. New products include, but are not limited to, ceiling designs, larger selection of architectural mouldings and European millwork offering carved details. Wall panels, CNC, custom, restoration, curved and flexible mouldings are offered as well. To top it all off, we have award-winning design servicing as we work on some of the largest residences in the USA, stadiums and commercial spaces with amazing millwork details.
Finding quality labor has been tough. Our President has made it really tough, as he has given uncertainty in the middle markets and tariffs have been nothing but a wreck.
We started using LinkedIn Recruiter as a company, specific agency and a good ole’ know-how to help us address labor issues.
Darrel Jones
Custom Plastics and Wood LLC
Benton, AR
Compared to 2025, I believe the prices will keep easing up. I would like to see White Oak come down a bit.
For our market, Poplar, Beech and White Oak seem to be our three strongest choices by customers.
It seems like paint grade still wins out as far as preferences go with the accent pieces being White Oak or Beech for vent hoods or islands.
It’s not really a new product, but we did add a robotic sander from a Las Vegas show. We are also working on some other automated systems that will show up big for our customers in 2026.
I think interest rates will be the biggest hold back for production/construction in 2026. I don’t expect any part of a significant change, but that will be the dam holding back a huge boom for all of us.
Douglas Settele
Keiver-Willard Lumber Corp.
Newburyport, MA
There’s no change expected regarding lumber buying process for 2026, as we are always buying to maintain certain levels of each species. It is all depending on sales.
Poplar, Maples, White Oak, rift White Oak, Sapele and Red Cherry have sold well for us in 2025 while Birch, quartered White Oak and Cypress struggled to sell.
There was not really a species preference I noticed, as all were similar to past years.
Offering more thermally modified products is something we intend to have in 2026 to help our company increase its customer base.
Improving the quality of loads coming in regardless of shrinking supply will be the biggest challenge heading into the new year for us.
Todd McClure
McClure Tables
Jenison, MI
We expect improvement in business in 2026 and do not anticipate any changes in lumber prices. We expect to purchase more.
Our sales in general have been down the last three years. We are recently seeing a little pick up and a trend that the buyers want to support made in USA products.
For cabinets, we have been seeing a trend towards Oak and rustic woods like Hickory the past year as preferences.
We have launched a new series of shuffleboard tables we call the Americana to promote the fact we are made in the USA. Our entire product line always has been, but for this series, we are taking a slightly lower margin to be more competitive with China-made shuffleboards. They are facing considerable tariffs in China and our products are much more competitive.
Labor getting additional workers will be a challenge for our business going into 2026. To address this labor difficulty, we are just more productive but need to hire more hands.
Lynn Gastineau
Gastineau Log Homes
Kingdom City, MO
I expect my lumber buying prices to remain fairly consistent in 2026 with 2025.
Our logs, which use 8 x 8 and 8 x 6 cants, have sold very well. Our 8/4 Oak products (log siding) have sold well also. Our 1” T&G Southern Yellow Pine has sold well. We have not had any products struggle to sell.
As for a species preference I noticed the past year, we specialize in Oak and it is our clients’ preference.
We have designed and started production of a camper cabin line that we hope to see grow in 2026. This is a small, premade cabin that can be sold as a home office, a rental, man cave, she shed, or as a getaway in the woods or some remote area.
We are growing rapidly and dealing with that growth is our biggest challenge heading into 2026.
We have hired a company to find our white-collar employees. Our mill employees and maintenance department employees are more difficult. We have a referral program for people brought to us by our existing employees that stay for six months. We have also done career days at the local high schools.
Holly Dickerson
R&M Wood Inc.
Harrison, AR
We are anticipating lumber buying prices to decrease somewhat or stay the same in 2026 when compared to 2025.
Red Oak has sold very well in 2025, but we have been struggling with White Oak.
There was not really a species preference that I noticed, and we are not making any changes in 2026 regarding products or services.
Labor is an issue as always when considering the largest challenge we might face in 2026.
We are refining our hiring processes to address the labor issues.
Mervin Miller
Marsh Valley Forest Products
Geauga County, OH
I don’t anticipate any changes for our lumber buying prices in 2026 compared to the previous year.
Custom moulding sales were up but stair tread sales were down this past year.
White Oak was the species bias I saw this past year.
Labor will be the largest issue for us in the new year. To fix this, we are trying to increase wages.
Gerry Lashaway
Ponders Hollow Custom Wood Flooring and Millwork
Westfield, MA
We think prices will stay the same going into 2026, meaning they won’t be stable. We never assume the lumber cost here. Every inquiry we receive, we call and ask our vendors for current cost and lead times.
Domestic hardwoods and softwoods, especially Red and White Oak, continue to sell well.
There was a preference for domestic Red and White Oak and Hard Maple this past year.
We are always looking for new opportunities and growth. 2026 will be an exciting year for us with the opening of the new location of our sister company Mill River Slabworks. At this location, we not only have vacuum dried live edge slabs, we also stock rough lumber, hobby wood and architectural Poplar mouldings along with other wood products. With a new showroom at that location, we hope to attract a new base of customers.
The rising costs of everything needed to run a small business will be a hurdle for us in 2026.
Labor has not been an issue this year and we have a great group.
