Covid did impact prices and product availability. A lot of shipping and packing locations were shut down. There's a whole lot of stuff made in China that gets shipped over and China got hit hard by Covid. Their death toll was astronomically higher than they ever admitted. It was way more than double what they claimed. With people dropping like flies, having to quarantine, shipments having to be disinfected, etc, it did affect the bottom line. It slowed down the supply end and when supply slows while there is demand, businesses jack up prices. It's why the oil companies don't have more refineries and limit how much oil they refine. They could easily refine a lot more but then there would be a surplus of refined oil and their supply to demand ratio wouldn't justify higher prices. (Hey, I still remember some things from college business classes. LOL).
Also, businesses will use any excuse they can to jack up prices to try to increase their profits. Any time there is some sort of natural disaster, prices on some things go up even if they weren't impacted.
I didn't get to sleep last night after Mom woke me up. Cleaned some more and then my brother and I picked up our friend and went to a prefab building place. They do on-site construction as well as full deliveries. Got my eye on a metal barn. Apparently they can be customized. At first I just wanted a simple 12'x16' but the I saw the ones with the lean-to additions that would be perfect for storing hay (I actually saw a building with a lean-to holding hay on the way up there). Only one person working at the place (the owner) and he couldn't tell me about any of the options available really. All he did was tell me to text him about what I wanted. He didn't know specific prices (or at least wouldn't admit it). Kept insisting price of metal is going to go up 20% "soon" and I better buy asap or it will be more expensive. I haven't heard anything to corroborate that so I'm fairly certain it's a sales gimmick. I was happy with the thickness of the metal buildings. They were a lot sturdier and I can order them in 12 gauge. I can add my own insulation.
There was a really large barn that was nice but I couldn't reach the handle to pull the door down and it was waaay too big. I was looking at a smaller one and the guy said it could have a lean-to added and explained how it would be added.
I snapped a pic of the specs and brand name. Went to company site and found they have a Barn Building program where you can customize. Took me a bit, but I figured out how to build the barn I wanted with a little porch area (shelter from rain while opening the door) and a lean-to. Played around with open walled lean-to vs closed wall. Think I like closed better. Added a side door at some point as a 2nd entry point (if cows get in the way) or as an escape from cows if they get between me and the big door. It's about the same size as my bedroom (but my room is slightly longer).
Plan would have 10' ceilings for main barn, 12'x16' enclosed area, 4' x 12' porch area, 8' (smallest size they make them) x 20' lean to with one side covered and back half covered as an egress point. The really big barn was about $7k. Smaller one (which had plywood floor) was over $6k. If I can stay under $9k it will be covered by what the insurance paid for our barn that got destroyed.
We stopped at Walmart to grab some food they don't sell in town. Then went to chinese restaurant (they are very strict about masks, distancing, gloves, etc). Owner is always very happy to see us and says "See you next time!" as we're leaving.
Went to Lowes and got more gravel. We were going to help our friend with his yard more, but my brother had a severe toothache and was tempted to go to the ER but they won't give him anything for pain when he goes. He's trying to find an urgent care dentist.