How much have building materials gone up in 2026?
Building material prices are up 10.1% from a year ago (August 2026). The table shows how much each material used in common home projects changed in price over 12 months. The numbers come from the Producer Price Index, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes. Contractors watch the same numbers when they price a job.
| Material | Used for | 12-month change |
|---|---|---|
| Steel mill products | beams, rebar, fasteners | ▲ +33% |
| Iron & steel | structural steel | ▲ +17.9% |
| Inputs to construction industries | overall construction inputs | ▲ +10.1% |
| Lumber & wood products | framing, decking, trim | ▲ +7.6% |
| Nonferrous metals | copper wire & pipe, aluminum, flashing | ▲ +6.5% |
| Concrete ingredients | foundations, driveways, patios | ▲ +4.2% |
| Plastic construction products | PVC pipe, vinyl siding, fittings | ▲ +3.9% |
| Heating equipment | furnaces, boilers, heating and cooling systems | ▲ +3.5% |
| Construction machinery & equipment | installation equipment | ▲ +2.2% |
| Paints & coatings | interior & exterior painting | ▲ +0.3% |
| Gypsum products | drywall | ▲ +0.2% |
What this means for your project: When a material jumps in price, quotes for jobs that use a lot of it go up first. Jobs heavy in steel (beams, fencing, roof fasteners) or copper follow these numbers closely. Jobs that use a lot of wood (framing, decks) follow lumber prices. If a material's price is flat or falling, don't expect a much lower quote. Labor is usually the bigger part of the bill (see construction labor cost by state).
Where these numbers come from
Each figure is the change from a year earlier in the Producer Price Index, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for August 2026. We use the plain monthly numbers, not the version adjusted for the seasons. We track the parts of the index that match materials used in home projects. We leave out any price series with a sudden one-month break, which happens when the government changes how it codes a product. The index tracks what producers are paid, and store and contractor prices tend to follow it. See how we get our numbers. We pulled the data on October 1, 2026.
Free to use: Download the data as a spreadsheet (CSV file), see price trends over 10 years, or read the full 2026 Construction Cost Report. You can republish or chart it. Please link back to this page.