Category: Procurement

July 17, 2023

Canadian wildfire smoke continues to blow over much of the U.S., raising air pollution to harmful levels for construction workers. Now, the impact of the fires is likely to raise U.S. lumber prices, too. Canada’s 2023 wildfire season has been […]

July 7, 2023

The cost of popular construction materials has been hard to nail down since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. About 82.5% of construction materials have experienced a significant cost increase since 2020, with an average jump of 19%, according construction […]

June 29, 2023

Strong nonresidential construction activity is maintaining price pressures on concrete, steel and other key materials, said Chris Delaney, commercial manager in the Americas division at construction consultancy firm Linesight. After a brief drop in the second half of 2022, steel […]

April 21, 2023

Subcontractors in the US were hit with additional costs of US$97 billion in 2022 due to rising costs of materials and labour, according to a new study from Billd of nearly 900 commercial construction professionals across the US. Just over […]

April 19, 2023

Contractors are beginning to centralize and automate their supply chain processes. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the industry’s soft underbelly when it comes to materials procurement and management, but the next step — utilizing blockchain and artificial intelligence to track and […]

March 13, 2023

Before 2020, the idea of lengthy wait times for construction materials was not only unheard of, it was unacceptable. Over the last two years however, as the supply chain crisis has continued, material shortages in construction have become a reality […]

February 17, 2023

After December’s numbers posted lower results, Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, warned that lower costs could be short-lived. “Some prices have already turned higher in January,” Simonson said last month. “Contractors are right to […]

February 10, 2023

Felice Farber describes herself as “a public policy wonk.” A former lawyer and government affairs officer for the General Contractors Association of New York, she said her passion lies at the intersection of construction and public policy. Farber was appointed […]

January 23, 2023

Plunging prices for diesel fuel, lumber, and steel slowed inflation for materials and services used in construction in December in the US, but relief may be short-lived, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government […]

January 20, 2023

December’s reading represents the smallest yearly increase since January 2021, according to ABC. “Recent consumer and Producer Price releases indicate that inflation is fading, though it remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target,” said Basu in the report. “Should […]

January 18, 2023

Inflation appears to be impacting construction materials prices more than other sectors of the economy even as it eases. Construction input prices fell in December at a greater rate than the Producer Price Index, but still outpaced the wholesale level […]

January 3, 2023

Inflation could severely weaken the impact of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, experts say. High prices for construction materials and other project inputs are already sapping jurisdictions’ additional buying power from the federal legislation, according to analysis […]

November 30, 2022

Contractors and construction materials suppliers are calling on the U.S. Senate to pass an emergency bill that cleared the House of Representatives on Nov. 30 that would impose a tentative agreement reached by freight rail companies and labor unions brokered […]

October 10, 2022

Over the past decade, collaborative contracting methods have become more prominent in infrastructure projects. These project delivery practices, also known as “alternative procurement,” are differentiated from traditional low-bid or hard-bid contracting by the early involvement of the contractor in the […]

August 25, 2022

Steep inflation over the past few months has exacerbated what was already a volatile market for construction materials, further complicating specialty contractors’ efforts to successfully navigate a post-pandemic environment where many markets remain active, albeit with resources in short supply. […]

July 18, 2022

Impacts from a rise in construction material prices are still being felt despite some recent signs of prices stabilizing, according to new analyses by the Associated General Contractors of America and the Associated Builders and Contractors. According to an analysis […]

July 15, 2022

The report comes on the heels of a broader analysis from Jay Pendergrass, director of supply chain at No. 11 contractor Gilbane, who noted declines in steel, copper and lumber going into the second half of 2022. Taken together, the […]

July 12, 2022

While not universally positive, Pendergrass’s outlook for 2H 2022 pointed to key areas displaying better conditions for contractors. “As we move into the back half of 2022, tighter financial markets, slower growth and a continued improvement of supply bottlenecks could […]

June 8, 2022

Before Miami-based Eden Multifamily had even begun site work on EDEN Crystal Lake in Port Orange, Florida in March 2021 (pictured above), it already had a container filled with fiberglass bathtubs ready and waiting to be installed in the apartments […]

May 3, 2022

The breakouts in U.S. construction material input costs showed few signs of abating in March. Table 1 presents year-over-year, and latest-three-month percentage-change results for 15 Producer Price Index series that bear on the materials cost side of construction projects. March […]