Creating Lumber Market "EXPERTS"
With Data-Driven Forecasts & Buying Strategies
Know when to buy.
Know when to wait.
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Lumber prices tell you where the market has been. Layman's Lumber Guide helps you decide what to do next.
Every Sunday at 5 PM, LLG turns a completed week of lumber-market data into actionable buying intelligence—helping you understand where the market sits, when conditions may change, and whether the evidence favors acting now or waiting.
2-month FREE Trial
LLG Creates Lumber Market Experts
We Don't Just Make the Call. We Show You Why.
Every week, Layman's Lumber Guide combines current market behavior with 26 years of historical data to help professional lumber buyers make better-timed inventory decisions.
You'll see where each product sits within its Forecasted Decision Point, how current prices compare with seasonal norms, what the trade has actually been doing, and whether the week's price action historically favors buying early or waiting.
And every call comes with the historical odds and the base rate behind it.
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Restricted Memberships
Built for Professional Lumber Buyers
LLG isn't designed for casual market watchers. Our members are professionals whose purchasing and inventory decisions have real dollars attached to them.
Members include producers, wholesalers, brokers, contractor yards, LBM dealers, wood preservers, component manufacturers, production builders, multifamily developers, turnkey framers, remanufacturers and portfolio managers.
 How Can You Get Access?
Our approach is simple.
Try Layman’s Lumber Guide FREE for 2 months.
Put the Forecast to work in your own lumber-buying decisions. Follow the calls. Watch what happens. If you find it informative and profitable, stay. If not, you go.
Know When to Buy — and When to Wait
Every lumber buyer faces the same question:
Do I buy now, or wait?
Prices tell you where the market has been. Layman’s Lumber Guide is designed to help you decide what to do next.
During your free trial, you'll learn:
• How the three lumber market cycles influence when the trade builds and draws down inventory.
• How our Forecasted Decision Points (FDPs) identify the timing of potential market turns and show you how far you are into a move.
• Whether current conditions favor buying early or late in the week, with the historical odds behind each call.
• How current prices compare with their seasonal averages.
• What Inventory Shift reveals about what lumber buyers have actually been doing.
What You Get
The Weekly Lumber Market Forecast
Published every Sunday at 5 PM, after Friday prices have settled, so you're working from a complete week of market data before trading begins Monday morning.
Each issue tracks:
Southern Yellow Pine • Western SPF • KD Hem Fir • Green Douglas Fir • OSB • Lumber Composite
For each product, you'll see current price and weekly change, direction and momentum, Inventory Shift, price versus seasonal average, where you are within the current FDP move, and the weekly Buy Early / Buy Late call with its historical odds.
26 Years of Data. And We Show Our Work.
Every figure we publish has been tested against 26 years of weekly price history.
And we don't just show you an accuracy percentage.
We show you the base rate.
That means you can see how often a signal worked compared with what would have happened without the forecast at all.
When our testing showed that something we'd relied on for years didn't actually add value, we removed it.
The result is a Guide built around the signals that survived the testing—with the evidence behind them available to you.
This Isn't a Price Prediction.
The Guide doesn't claim to know what lumber will cost next week.
It helps identify when the lumber trade is likely to change its buying behavior, where you are within that timing cycle, and what the historical evidence says about acting now versus waiting.
Try it FREE for 2 months and put it to work on the lumber you're already buying.
What People Are Saying About Layman's Guide Forecasts
Hundreds of lumber producers, wholesalers, lumber dealers, wood preservers, component manufacturers, and builders read these forecasts each week. Here's what they have to say:
"While attempting to forecast the lumber market is the main reason we subscribe to your publication, we also like to have a little insight as to the reasons why the market is moving in one way or another. The research done to establish your estimated decision points helps in our analysis of what we need to cover now and what we should wait on."
- Chris Jones, President, Framing Square Lumber
"The Layman’s Lumber Guide helps me and my staff optimize our lumber purchasing. I also have a treated lumber wholesale business and it helps me to inform my customers on where I feel the lumber market is going"
- Paul Taylor, Marine Building Supply
"Thank you Matt, I am glad I took your advice in November and bought heavy, that was a great call. Now we are buying as little as possible until something changes. Soon we will see the numbers go down. Thanks again for your knowledge and expertise."
- Chris Estridge, Estridge Deck and Patio
"I just want to say thank you for sharing what you've worked long and hard to build with all of us. I thought it was well worth the time and money. I've got a lot of respect for what you've done and for the courage you have to put your ideas out there for better or worse. It's been very helpful to me and Townsend Building Supply over the years. I hope that I can play a part in continuing to pass on the tradition of the "thinking lumberman!"
- Rob Eaton, Director of Purchasing and Business Analytics, Townsend Building Supply
"I am not sure how many years I’ve been a member. Or how it came to be. But I have enjoyed reading your column and have always used it as a guide in doing my job. We are a small location, so I wear many hats, so my time is tight and I feel you have helped me to keep my finger on the pulse. But it goes way beyond that. I felt connected with you in a way, the way you shared your life stories. Reading about your boys growing up the same time my children were. You have just been a calming influence when at times you feel that things are coming apart. Thank you for everything."
- Paul Faust, East Side Lumber
"I get your guide for several reasons. 1) I get a perspective (your personal perspective) that I don't get from other market reports. 2) You are not afraid to stick your neck out and make a prediction. 3) The most important single piece of information for me is the "% Sales / Production Ratio" by product. I have been unable to find this info stated as simply from any other source. It pretty much tells me everything I want to know about the market in a glance. Keep up the good work!"
- Joe Ferreira, Hagle Lumber Co., Inc.
About Layman's Lumber Guide
Matt Layman has worked in lumber commodities for nearly four decades, combining real-world market experience with a data-driven approach to lumber buying.
Layman's Lumber Guide helps professional buyers understand when to act, when to wait, and where they are within the market's timing cycle.
Today's Forecast is backed by testing against 26 years of weekly price history across six products. Every published signal is measured against its historical base rate, giving readers the evidence behind the call—not simply a prediction.
About LLG