Construction Input Prices Rise 7.4% as Project Backlogs Drop to 8 Months
Updated
Updated · Bisnow · Aug 14
Construction Input Prices Rise 7.4% as Project Backlogs Drop to 8 Months
3 articles · Updated · Bisnow · Aug 14
Summary
July construction input prices were 7.4% higher than a year earlier, while contractors' backlog fell to 8 months from 8.8 in June—the sharpest monthly drop since early 2022.
Energy offered only brief relief: crude oil fell 12% from June, limiting the monthly price increase to 0.1%, but Brent has already rebounded more than 5% in August and natural gas jumped 10% in July.
Steel, copper wire and lumber kept climbing, with iron and steel up 17.6% year over year, copper wire up 17.9% and softwood lumber up 6.4% in July as inflation and renewed tariff efforts squeeze builders.
Data centers are masking broader weakness: firms doing that work held more than 11 months of backlog, while the 88% of contractors outside server-farm construction had just 7.5 months; small and mid-size firms were hit especially hard.
Outside data centers, construction remains sluggish—multifamily starts hit a 15-year low in the first quarter, office building is still historically depressed, and 66% of contractors expect profit margins to stay flat or shrink.