Many downtown businesses boarded up ahead of potential public unrest this year, and some are keeping the materials on hand, just in case.

Ordinary board up calls involve the aftermath of emergencies, such as fires, storms, vandalism, and vehicle impacts. This year was far from ordinary.

A day of peaceful demonstrations on May 31 to protest the death of George Floyd ended with late night incidents of violence: broken shop windows, a burned police car, and scattered looting.

By comparison, Election Day was mostly peaceful both in Boston and nationwide, but fear of unrest still led many to batten down the hatches. Demand for board up services spiked in the weeks leading up to November 3, according to numerous local news reports.

Among the locations that boarded up by the start of November were landmarks like the Prudential Center, national chains such as CVS, and shops on Boylston and Newbury Streets. Nationally, the price of plywood rose sharply every month from May to October, when it reached an all time high, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis.

So even though board-up companies were extremely busy, they faced higher costs.

“We were paying more, with a shorter margin,” said Louis Falzarano, founder of Boston Board Up, who observed, “One misconception is that it’s really easy and you make a lot of money.” A former firefighter, Falzarano said that by November 3, plywood was becoming more difficult to find. This was the first Election Day he recalls when his services were requested ahead of time.

Falzarano also said the board up landscape has changed. Previously he would typically dispose of the boards, custom cut on site for each opening. Now some customers are choosing to store theirs on location, numbered by window, and ready to be put up at a moment’s notice.

That provides savings for both parties.

Exterior grade plywood is a significant expense for boarding up. It is perhaps 15 to 20 percent of cost per protected window, according to construction cost comparison website Homewyse. Political demonstrations have continued through and past Election Day. Boston Democrats rallied on November 4, while Trump supporters protested in Washington, DC on November 14.

And while the vast majority of Boston demonstrations have been peaceful, it only takes one brick to put a big dent in operations. So what was once an emergency service has become, for many, a cost of doing business.