# Construction Material Price Index Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/construction-material-price-index/ Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/construction-material-price-index/llms.txt Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com) Published: September 4, 2026 Updated: October 5, 2026 Category: Reports & Research Summary: The construction material price index by grouping: BLS series ids, July 2026 index values, and the 12 month change for lumber, steel, gypsum, and more. --- ## Construction Material Price Index: What Moved in a Year The construction material price index tells you what producers charge, and over the last twelve reported months the groupings moved very differently. At a glance 1. BLS put its construction materials index at 374.039 in July 2026, up 10.5 percent in twelve months. 2. Steel mill products led at 22.5 percent. Copper wire and cable followed at 17.9 percent. 3. Gypsum products went the other way, down 0.4 percent over the same span. 4. Every row below carries its BLS series id, so any reader can pull the same number. 5. An index is not a price. It reports what moved, never what to charge. 6. July 2026 values are preliminary, and BLS revises indexes for up to four months. ## What the construction material price index actually measures The construction material price index that belongs in a bid is the Producer Price Index. BLS publishes it monthly. BLS says it “measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output”. So it reads the mill and the plant, not the counter at your supply house. Still, the construction material price index is the cleanest signal you get on direction. When steel mill products run up 22.5 percent in a year, nobody upstream is absorbing that quietly. Meanwhile the aggregate BLS calls construction materials sat at 374.039 in July 2026, against 338.600 in July 2025. Labor is the other half of the same squeeze, and it moves on its own clock. This page is the material half. ## Twelve months of the construction material price index, by grouping Each row is the unadjusted monthly index, with the year-ago value beside it so the arithmetic is checkable. Series ids are included. Because BLS publishes these openly, you can pull any row again at data.bls.gov. | Material grouping | BLS series id | July 2025 | July 2026 | 12 month change | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Steel mill products | WPU1017 | 305.538 | 374.203 | +22.5% | | Copper wire and cable | WPU10260314 | 490.236 | 578.187 | +17.9% | | Lumber | WPU081 | 264.248 | 291.019 | +10.1% | | Plastic construction products | WPU0721 | 339.440 | 356.305 | +5.0% | | Prepared asphalt and tar roofing and siding products | WPU1361 | 359.364 | 372.301 | +3.6% | | Ready-mix concrete | WPU1333 | 385.993 | 394.468 | +2.2% | | Insulation materials | WPU1392 | 285.333 | 287.742 | +0.8% | | Gypsum products | WPU137 | 483.409 | 481.644 | -0.4% | | Construction materials, BLS special index | WPUSI012011 | 338.600 | 374.039 | +10.5% | Two things to know before you quote off that table. First, the July 2026 values are preliminary, and BLS revises indexes for up to four months after first publication. Second, BLS sets each series to 100 in a base period. Eight of these carry a base date of 198200. Copper wire and cable carries 198612. ## An index is not a price This is where the number gets misused. 291.019 is not a dollar figure for lumber. Nor does 481.644 mean gypsum products cost more than steel, because each index is measured against that grouping’s own base period price, never against another grouping. Each one compares only to itself, across time. So use the percent change and ignore the level. If your framing package priced out last July, the lumber grouping says the producer side runs about ten percent hotter. In short, that is a direction to confirm with your supplier, not a figure to paste into a bid. ## Decide how long your quote stands A quote with no expiry is an open option you wrote for the customer. Once material moves, they exercise it and you eat the gap. So put a validity window on the face of every estimate. Set it against your own supplier quotes, not a habit. The mechanic is simple. Ask your supply house how long its pricing holds, then make your window no longer than theirs. Where a job runs past that, the alternative is an escalation clause. Good clause language names the material and the public index it tracks. It also states who carries a move beyond an agreed threshold. Agree that trigger in writing before the job starts, because after a delivery lands it is a dispute. ## Get the new number onto the page fast Rebuilding a stale bid by hand is the slowest hour of the week. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized, branded estimate in about 6 seconds. In addition, every line carries a unit, quantity, and price per unit, so the material side is itemized on its own lines. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial. ## How to reprice a bid off the construction material price index 1. Map your line items to groupings Take the material lines on the bid and tag each one to a grouping above. Framing lumber to WPU081, wire and cable to WPU10260314, gypsum board to WPU137. 2. Pull the current value Look up the series at data.bls.gov, note the reference month, then compare it to the month you bid. 3. Apply the delta to material only Move the material side by that percentage and leave labor alone. Because this index tracks producer prices, it says nothing about your crew. 4. Choose a window or a clause For short jobs, restate the quote with a fresh validity window. For long ones, agree an escalation clause up front instead. ## Keep reading - Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/) - What Is Overhead in Construction (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/what-is-overhead-in-construction/) - Markup vs Margin in Construction (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/markup-vs-margin-construction/) - How to Set Markup and Price Jobs for Profit (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/how-to-set-markup-price-jobs-for-profit/) ## Sources - BLS, Producer Price Indexes program (https://www.bls.gov/ppi/) (what the index measures; verified 2026-08-21). - BLS, Producer Price Indexes news release, July 2026 (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.nr0.htm) (release date, revisions, next release; verified 2026-08-21). - BLS series WPUSI012011, Construction materials (https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPUSI012011) (aggregate index values; verified 2026-08-21). - BLS series WPU1017, Steel mill products (https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPU1017) (steel index values and base date; verified 2026-08-21). - BLS series WPU081, Lumber (https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPU081) (lumber index values and base date; verified 2026-08-21). - SimplyWise Cost Estimator, App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664) (4.8 rating; verified 2026-08-21). ## Construction material price index: common questions **What is the construction material price index?** It is the Producer Price Index from BLS, read on the commodity groupings contractors buy. BLS measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers for their output. **How often does BLS update it?** Monthly. The July 2026 data landed on August 13, 2026, and BLS scheduled the August release for September 10, 2026. Recent months get revised as late reports arrive. **Does an index tell me what to charge?** No. It tells you what moved. Use the percent change to adjust the material side of a bid. Then confirm it against a live supplier quote. **Which material moved most in the last year?** Steel mill products, series WPU1017, rose 22.5 percent from July 2025 to July 2026. Copper wire and cable rose 17.9 percent over the same twelve months. **Why are two index values on different scales?** Because each index is set to 100 against its own base period price, so the level only tracks change inside that one grouping. BLS lists base date 198200 for eight of these groupings, and 198612 for copper wire and cable. So compare a series only to itself. **Can SimplyWise price a job from a photo?** Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized, branded estimate in about 6 seconds. Free to try, at $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr. --- ## About SimplyWise SimplyWise, Inc. (New York, NY) builds mobile apps for contractors, tradespeople, and small business owners. The SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job site photo into an itemized estimate with labor and material costs in about 6 seconds, and the client signs the branded quote to approve it. It is rated 4.8 on the App Store. It is free to try with a 7-day free trial, then $29.99 per month or $239.99 per year (about $20 per month on the annual plan), and one subscription includes every app in the SimplyWise suite. - Download: https://www.simplywise.com/download - App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664 - Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplywise.costestimator - Every SimplyWise page as plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/llms.txt