Construction input prices increased 0.6% in November compared to the previous month, according to an analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data by Associated Builders and Contractors (Washington, D.C.). Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 0.6% for the month.
Overall construction input prices are 3.4% higher than one year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 3.8% higher. Prices increased in two of three energy categories. Natural gas and unprocessed energy materials prices were up 10.8% and 1.4%, respectively, while crude petroleum prices were down 1.1% in November.
“Construction input prices surged in November and are now up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis,” ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said. “While that’s a relatively modest annual increase, it’s also the largest since January 2023, and the trend offers plenty of cause for concern. Many tariff-affected materials, like derivative metal products and switchgear equipment, have experienced considerable price escalation in 2025.”
Basu added that it’s “impossible” to know exactly how the costs of tariffs will be distributed throughout the supply chain. “That makes it exceptionally difficult to know how construction input prices will behave in 2026,” he said. “Despite this uncertainty, contractors are on net optimistic that their profit margins will expand during the first half of the year, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, albeit slightly less optimistic than they were at the same time last year.”
