Bozeman Build #12

May snow brings June flowers?

Author

Daniel Zavadil
May 13, 2024

Howdy builders of Montana!

Happy Monday and great to see you again where we cover blue collar/build topics around Montana, we also zoom out and talk about what’s happening around the rest of our great Nation.

Today, we are covering May snowstorms, Northern Lights, power plants, and more. Sit back and enjoy the next 5 minutes of some blue collar bs.

Traffic backed up all the way into Bozeman on Wednesday 05/08 during the I-90 closure

Keep the saw sharp,

PS. If you have any feedback or content that would be fitting for the Bozeman build, please share by responding to this email or reach out to [email protected] 

When, what, and who is the Bozeman Build? The BB is a 1x/week free email newsletter delivered every Monday morning focused on mountain West trades with an emphasis on Montana. The author is Daniel Z who has a background in accounting, commodities, construction, trucking, and has a small business called blockbiome. Daniel is not a financial or building advisor.

Block Biome + Bozeman Build research

Side dump rates SW MT

Hourly rate for a semi hauling a side dump trailer - appx 30-35 tons per load - quotes as of May 2024

  • Yellowstone County -$135

  • Gallatin County - $160

  • Park County - $165

Source being phone calls - one call per county. Please note these rates can vary per company and that these quotes are for side dump for hire by the hour not including materials.

Craigslist/Marketplace find of the week.

Moon ramps and a Nebraska Bank house available now! If you buy the bank house, you could start telling people that you own a bank. Both listings found on the Bozeman and Omaha Facebook marketplace.

*If you have interest in any price, competition, or market research, reach out!

Montana commodities

Prices as of Friday May 10th 2024 around 1:30pm. WoW = Week over Week

Hard

  • Copper - $4.65/Lbs +2.20% WoW

  • Crude Oil - $78.357/Bbl +0.33% WoW

  • Natural Gas - $2.25/MMBtu +5.41% WoW

Soft

  • Wheat - $662.45/Bu +6.42% WoW

  • Live Cattle - $176.07/Lbs -0.29% WoW

  • Lumber - $488.09/1000 board feet -2.79% WoW

Big swinging commodities

  • Silver $28.24/t.oz up +6.42% last week

  • Cocoa $9300.63/T up +14.11% last week

  • Potatoes $31.00/100KG up +10.71% last week

  • Eggs $3031.00 /T down -22.01% last week

Local, State, US Wide Trade Pulse

Bozeman trade pulse

Overhead Bozeman

  • Lots of talk about the I-90 Closure, Northern Lights, and MSU Graduation

  • New T&C is pricey “So.... after being shocked by my grocery bill at the new T&C last week I went and double checked prices at the campus location to make sure I'm not crazy.” -Reddit

  • Mailboxes always destroyed by plow “We have had to replace more mailboxes in the last two years than the last 20 Especially when heavy and wet! Slow down pretty please”. Someone responded - “Plant a railroad rail five feet into concrete.” -Reddit

  • 'Urban camping' in this Montana city has spiked 200% as priced-out locals move into cars and RVs “City officials say the number of Bozeman residents living in their RVs or cars spiked by 200% in two years, according to Montana PBS, which cited the city. Since 2020, the overall unhoused population has grown by 50%.” -Business Insider

  • Best Plant Nursery? Top votes were Cashman Nursery, Gallatin Valley Garden Supply, Green Thumb, and Garden Barn. Cashman overwhelmingly taking the win.

I-90 Bozeman Pass Closure

Southwest MT received a pretty decent blanket of snow starting on Tuesday going into Wednesday 05/08 causing car accidents and Grizzly 399 to return back into hibernation. I heard reports of folks being stuck on the pass for 9, 12, to 14 hours. “I-90 East is CLOSED from Bozeman to Livingston due to multiple commercial vehicle incidents. Use alternate route.” - MT DOT

MDT Resumes Curves North Of Churchill Project


CHURCHILL, Mont.: The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and CK May Excavating, Inc. are resuming work to resurface approximately one mile of State Secondary Highway 288 (S 288), also known as Churchill Road, between Churchill and Manhattan. This project includes grading, surfacing, and seal and cover (chip seal) operations.

"MDT and CK May Excavating, Inc. are eager to get back to work and complete this project over the summer," says Craig Walker, Project Manager for MDT's Butte District.

MSU Commencement on Friday

The university expects degrees to be awarded to 1,855 undergraduates and 371 graduate students. A total of 218 Gallatin College MSU students are expected to receive associate degrees or certificates. MSU News

Photo credits to the Bozemanbuild - it was a full house

Here’s a list of Gallatin College grads incase you want to recruit. Likely that all these graduates already have a job aligned! Source being the MSU commencement guide book.

Remodel of the week

Seems like this projects been a WIP for a while however that’s somewhat typical for a remodel in Bozemans Historical District. I think Velocity Developments has a hand in this project.

Historical District house remodel off Babcock

Montana trade pulse

Events

MLA 2024 Annual Membership Meeting Friday May 17 - Saturday, May 18th, 2024 at the Butte Copper King

**If you have any events that we are missing, please inform us!

Counties of Montana made of wood

Jesse Nehring made this incredible wooden map of Montana, this kid is talented. You can follow his projects and photography on Instagram @jessenehringphotos

Did you catch the Northern Friday night lights?

They also took place on Saturday evening but were not as strong. If you missed them, i’m sure you have a few friends who posted pictures 🙂 

tNOAA

Colstrip being stripped of its powers

The Colstrip Power Plant, photographed in August 2019. Credit: Eric Dietrich / MTFP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule is threatening the operation of Talen Energies Colstrip MT power plant. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester mentioned that “the only power plant [the MATS rule] is really affecting.” In a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting, Zinke asked if Regan was aware that the MATS rule “targets Colstrip.” Tester also said to an EPA Administrator Michael Regan. “You and I both know that there’s no way they’ll make hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in a power plant that has that depreciation date.” Montana Free Press

The new MATS rule was incorporated in a suite of new regulations the EPA adopted on April 25 to clamp down on pollution generated by power plants. In addition to tightening regulations for mercury and other heavy metals that become airborne when coal is burned to generate electricity, the EPA’s new rules require coal plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 90% by 2039. Powder River Examiner

In summary, MT legislators are lead to believe that the EPA is targeting this specific plant and if the EPA gets their way - inflated consumer utility costs will be passed down to the consumer. Renovating this plant to meet the new EPA rule is vastly cost prohibitive.

Upcoming road project bid opportunities

MDT new or resuming project announcements made May 6 - May 9th

Billings building owner claims 'squatter' living in his commercial space

BILLINGS – A Billings property owner says he’s trying to gain possession of his own property from what he calls a serial squatter in a conflict that has dragged on for over two years. KTVQ

Oscar Mayer departed Missoula for Billings this week

First spotted on Friday 05/10 on 27th St near downtown Billings

USA wide highlights

Bozeman Builds top picks from the Construction Dive

Ag, Mining, and Transport

Ag

  • USDA Montana Newsletter - May 2024

    Montana Ag Deadlines, loan programs, education opportunity, etc

  • “Parametric Insurance” Offers a Hedge Against Weather Extremes A novel type of insurance product has been gaining traction amid increasingly extreme weather events that have roiled the industry. Known as “parametric insurance,” these contracts insure a policyholder against the occurrence of a specific event by paying a set amount triggered by a predetermined parameter. In other words, it pays out based on the magnitude of the event rather than the magnitude of the losses in a traditional indemnity policy. - Van Trump Report

  • Canada and China are Big Winners in US Renewable Diesel Push

    Renewable diesel capacity in the US has almost doubled in the last two years. However, it’s not US soybean growers benefitting from the expansion of renewable diesel as many had anticipated. Instead, renewable fuel facilities are importing record amounts of canola oil from Canada and used cooking oil (UCO) from China, resulting in domestic soybean oil being pushed out. - Van Trump Report

Mining

Transport

Blue collar history - MT Abandoned Mines map

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is really into mapping. Over the years they put together a GIS map called the Montana Abandoned mines list identifying various mining sites across Montana’s 189 Mining Districts.

Montana State Library map developed by Montana Abandoned Mines Reclamation Bureau

DEQ GIS

DEQ GIS

Music and Quote of the week

Seminole Wind - John Anderson

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Warren Buffett

Thanks for reading,

Daniel - NaFBA - Not a Financial or Building Advisor

The best compliment you can leave is a referral or feedback!