Article source: ConstructConnect

Short of going directly to suppliers or specialty newsletters for information, the best source of data on construction material cost movements is to be found in the Producer Price Index (PPI) figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The January 2021 PPI numbers confirm that lumber- and steel-related markets, as well as some others, are, indeed, ‘hot’.

Table 1 sets out PPI percentage changes for 15 crucial construction material inputs over two distinct time frames, the past year and the latest three months.

On a year-over-year basis, the biggest price movements have been recorded by softwood lumber, +73.0%; particle board and oriented strand board (OSB), +70.3%; iron and steel scrap, +50.8%; plywood, +35.6%; copper wire and cable, +12.5%; and prefabricated metal buildings, +12.4%.

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Article source: ConstructConnect

As I sit writing this Nuggets report, it’s just after Valentine’s Day and we’re about one month away from the mid-March annual anniversary of when the coronavirus descended on us all and turned our employment and social lives upside down, amidst the terrible medical toll taken on the population at large.

Saying 2020 was a ‘difficult’ year is an epic understatement. Among bad years, even throughout history, 2020 was one of the sorriest. The myriad statistics generated last year reflected the grim reality.
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