1Q 2026 Cost Report: Tariffs Contributed to Price Hikes for Many Materials in 2025

BusinessFinance Methodology 1Q 2026 Cost Report: Tariffs Contributed to Price Hikes for Many Materials in 2025 By Alisa Zevin Image by ENR March 24, 2026 Although ENR’s indexes measure the costs of non-residential buildings, the housing market has had a major impact on index movement. The ENR 20-city average yearly price for steel rose 11.9% by the end of 2025, while the overall Materials Cost Index experienced an increase of 2.5%. Skilled and common labor rose 5.7% and 4%, respectively. The ENR Building Cost Index (BCI) rose 4.2% for the year, while the Construction Cost Index (CCI) rose 3.6% over the same period. Related link: ENR 2026 1Q Cost Report PDFSubscription Required ENR began reporting changes in materials prices and wages systematically in 1909, but it did not establish the CCI until 1921. It was designed as a general-purpose tool to chart basic cost trends, and today remains a weighted aggregate index of the prices of a constant quantity of structural steel, portland cement, lumber and common labor. This package of goods was valued at $100, using 1913 prices. The original use of common labor in the CCI was intended to reflect wage-rate activity for all construction workers. In the 1930s, however, wage and fringe benefit rates climbed much faster in percentage terms for common laborers than for workers in the skilled trades. In response to this trend, ENR in 1938 introduced its BCI to weigh the impact of skilled-labor wage changes on overall costs. The BCI labo...