Making informed cost decisions on construction products will help you run your business more efficiently
With the rising prices of construction materials, the cost of running your business may be questionable. In order to do your job, you will always need to purchase those materials so it’s important to stay on top of the costs and budget accordingly.
Using the information provided by Buildingsolutions.com, we wanted to give you a cost overview of the industry as of May 2017 and a preview of what’s to come the rest of this year.
Overall, construction material costs are expected to increase across the industry as a whole by 2-3%. There are specific sectors of the industry, though, that will take the biggest hit.
- Though not materials, labor costs are expected to increase another 1% from 2016, which will be a total of 4% growth over 2 years. So remember to plan for that in your budget, too.
- Architectural and engineering is expected to slow or stay where it’s at for 2017.
- Equipment costs, while they didn’t increase in 2016, may have roughly a 1% increase this year.
- Three types of materials that had a significant decrease in cost last year – asphalt paving, concrete block, and fabricated steel – are all expected to increase 1-2% throughout the rest of this year.
- You will probably see the greatest cost increase in gypsum products, going from 2% in 2016 to 6-7% in 2017.
- It’s not all bad, though. Ready-mix concrete and flat glass are expected to decrease in cost this year.
As you make projections and budgets for the rest of this year and even 2018, keep these figures in mind. Making informed cost decisions on construction products will help you run your business more efficiently.
Check out the Building Solutions article (in the link above) for more information on their predictions for 2017.
