What a building costs now. The goods cost 59 % more than in 2020, and the rise has moved from wood to metal.

All 12 building goods cost more than in February 2020. Three metals have about doubled, and lumber rose less than consumer prices.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures what producers charge for their goods every month, the Producer Price Index. We took 12 of its commodity series that go into a building, from the frame and the structure to the envelope and the finishes, and compared September 2026, the latest month, with February 2020, the last month before the pandemic.

Every one is higher. The median rise of the 12 — 52.8 %. Copper and brass mill shapes are up 120.8 %, steel mill products 107.4 % and aluminum mill shapes 97.2 %. At the low end ready-mix concrete is up 39.0 %, flat glass 32.8 % and softwood lumber 25.6 %. Lumber is the one good of the 12 that rose less than consumer prices, 30.3 % over the same months.

The three groups below split the goods by that rise. Tap a bar for the goods in it.

Two cautions. These are producer prices, what a mill, a plant or a quarry charges, before freight, distribution and the contractor’s markup. And they carry no weights: the 12 cannot be added into one bill, because a building does not use them in equal parts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also weights all the goods construction buys into one index, which is Part 3. How we read the series

In the last 12 months the three metals rose 25 to 30 %. Five goods rose less than consumer prices.

Over the 12 months to September 2026 copper and brass rose 30.0 %, steel mill products 27.6 % and aluminum 25.2 %. Softwood lumber rose 14.2 % and plywood 12.6 %, up from a low base. Sand, gravel and crushed stone rose 6.3 % and fabricated structural metal 5.8 %. The other five, flat glass, insulation, asphalt roofing, ready-mix concrete and gypsum products, rose between 1.4 and 3.1 %, less than consumer prices at 3.7 %. The median of the 12 — 6.1 %.

Switch the view to the distance from the peak. Five of the 12, copper and brass, sand, gravel and crushed stone, gypsum products, insulation and flat glass, were at their highest reading on record in September 2026. Three more, fabricated structural metal, ready-mix concrete and asphalt roofing, are within 2.0 % of their highest month. The wood products are the exception: softwood lumber is 50.4 % below its May 2021 peak and plywood 35.6 % below June 2021. Steel mill products are 13.6 % below December 2021 and aluminum 6.1 % below June 2026.

We did not measure why the goods moved; the price series alone do not say. What they do say is that the shape of a cost estimate has changed. In 2021 wood was the line that ran away. In 2026 it is metal: the frame, the structure, the wiring and the mechanical systems. How we read the series

The index of all construction goods is at 159, its highest reading since it began in 1986. Consumer prices are at 130.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics weights the goods that construction buys into one index, net inputs to construction industries. With February 2020 set to 100 it stood at 159.1 in September 2026, up 11.2 % in the last 12 months. Goods for residential building are up 56.3 % since February 2020 and goods for nonresidential building 60.1 %. Consumer prices are at 130.3.

Labor moved less than goods. Average hourly earnings in construction were $41.70 in September 2026 against $31.35 in February 2020, 33.0 % more, and 4.0 % more than a year earlier.

Pick a good to set its line against the all-goods index and consumer prices. Lumber and plywood spike in 2021 and fall back. Steel and aluminum climb twice, in 2021 and again from 2025. Copper climbs with few pauses.

For a lender or a buyer of new buildings this has two sides. A project budgeted before 2022 and built now costs more than its estimate. A building already standing is worth more to replace than it was, which matters for insurance and for the price at which new supply pays. Both are readings, not results: we did not measure either. How we read the series

Goods priced at the 2021 average cost 35 % more at September 2026 prices. Goods priced at the 2025 average cost 12 % more.

A cost estimate is a picture of prices on the day it was made. We set the September 2026 level of the all-goods index against its average in each year from 2019 to 2025. Goods priced at the 2020 average cost 1.60 times as much now, at the 2021 average 1.35 times, and at the 2022, 2023 or 2024 average about 1.14 times. Goods priced at the 2025 average need 12 % more.

Pick a year and an amount. The result applies the all-goods index. A budget heavy in metal has risen faster than this since 2024, and one heavy in lumber slower.

Что с этим делать

If you lend on, buy or build new property: read the budget line by line against the series of the goods in it, and read it again at the date of the draw. A single construction inflation number would hide both the metal and the wood.

What this does not replace: a contractor’s bid, a cost estimator’s take-off, or a local price check. A national producer index has no freight, no regional prices, no labor availability and no contractor margin in it.

Реалист reviews the documents of a project or a loan, the budget, the offering memorandum, the rent roll and the operating statement, and returns the issues and the questions for the sponsor. Write to us if you want a budget’s goods lines set against these series.