Materials feeding residential construction rose +1.1% in May and are up +5.6% over the past year — outpacing general inflation. Steel and lumber led the move, and loaded labor keeps climbing. Builders still carrying last year's numbers into bids are pricing low.

What it means for your next bid

Steel is the sharpest mover — up 4.9% in just 90 days and 7.0% on the year — so any rebar or structural-steel scope priced more than a quarter ago is likely under. Lumber has firmed back up after a soft winter. Labor isn't spiking, but it never stops: +4.4% a year, every year. The safe assumption heading into summer starts: materials are still grinding higher, not settling.

Methodology. Figures are month-over-month, 90-day, and year-over-year changes in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indices: Producer Price Index commodity series for construction materials (WPUSI012011), lumber (WPU081), and iron & steel (WPU101), plus average hourly earnings for construction (CES2000000003), accessed via FRED. PPI series are index values (1982 = 100); labor is dollars per hour.

Coming soon — what builders actually pay. This edition tracks published national benchmarks. As Datum's builder network grows, future editions will add real transaction prices drawn (anonymized and aggregated) from the invoices and bids builders run through Datum — the gap between the benchmark and what's actually being charged is where margin is won or lost.

Cost input	Latest	1-month	90-day	Year-over-year
Construction materials (all) PPI special index · BLS	363.3	+1.1%	+3.0%	+5.6%
Framing lumber PPI: lumber · BLS	281.0	+0.3%	+3.3%	+4.2%
Steel — rebar & structural PPI: iron & steel · BLS	357.1	+1.4%	+4.9%	+7.0%
Construction labor (loaded) Avg hourly earnings · BLS	$41.20/hr	+0.5%	+1.2%	+4.4%

Where builder costs are heading — June 2026

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What it means for your next bid