The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 13 that its producer price index for goods bought as inputs by construction industries was 365.137 in October 2026, up 0.04% from September and effectively flat. A producer price index, or PPI, measures the prices domestic producers receive for what they sell, and this one covers the goods that contractors and other construction industries buy. The index is 11.5% above October 2025. It is not seasonally adjusted, and October is preliminary. September was revised down to a 2.1% monthly gain from the 2.2% first reported. October is still the highest reading of the last 25 months, 5.4% above the 12-month average of 346.6.
Construction input prices leveled off in October at a 25-month high
BLS PPI, net inputs to construction industries, goods, index June 1986 = 100, not seasonally adjusted, October 2024 to October 2026
| Month | Index (June 1986 = 100) | Change from prior month | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2025 | 327.6 | -0.3% | 2.6% |
| November 2025 | 329.2 | 0.5% | 3.4% |
| December 2025 | 327.2 | -0.6% | 2.9% |
| January 2026 | 329.8 | 0.8% | 2.4% |
| February 2026 | 334.3 | 1.4% | 3.2% |
| March 2026 | 342.0 | 2.3% | 5.1% |
| April 2026 | 347.4 | 1.6% | 7.0% |
| May 2026 | 355.6 | 2.3% | 9.1% |
| June 2026 | 352.0 | -1.0% | 7.7% |
| July 2026 | 353.6 | 0.5% | 7.9% |
| August 2026 | 357.5 | 1.1% | 8.9% |
| September 2026 | 365.0 | 2.1% | 11.1% |
| October 2026 | 365.1 | 0.0% | 11.5% |
The index has risen 10.7% since January 2026. Seven of the eight monthly changes from February through September were increases, and June’s 1.0% decline was the only break before October.
What moved
The flat total is two large moves that offset. BLS’s index of energy bought by nonresidential construction fell 3.1% in October after a 14% jump in September, and it is still 74.7% above a year ago. Strip out food and energy and the nonresidential goods index rose 0.7%, its largest monthly gain since January. Over 12 months that core index is up 6.3%.
| Index | September 2026 | October 2026 | Change from prior month | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goods inputs to all construction | 365.0 | 365.1 | 0.0% | 11.5% |
| Goods inputs to residential construction | 355.0 | 355.0 | 0.0% | 9.8% |
| Goods inputs to nonresidential construction | 184.7 | 185.0 | 0.2% | 11.5% |
| Nonresidential: energy | 210.0 | 203.4 | -3.1% | 74.7% |
| Nonresidential: goods less foods and energy | 169.2 | 170.4 | 0.7% | 6.3% |
| Nonresidential: services | 177.7 | 181.3 | 2.1% | 18.3% |
Goods inputs to residential construction were unchanged at 355.005, which leaves them 9.8% above October 2025. The nonresidential goods index rose 0.2% for the month and 11.5% for the year. Services bought by nonresidential builders rose 2.1% in October and are 18.3% above a year ago.
| Material | BLS series | October 2026 index | Change from prior month | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 diesel fuel | WPU057303 | 643.2 | -4.6% | 115.2% |
| Steel mill products | WPU1017 | 399.6 | 2.7% | 32.9% |
| Structural, architectural and pre-engineered metal products | WPU1074 | 401.8 | 1.7% | 8.7% |
| Lumber | WPU081 | 275.6 | -2.5% | 6.4% |
| Ready-mix concrete | WPU1333 | 394.8 | -0.1% | 2.4% |
Diesel led the decline. The unadjusted diesel index fell 4.6% from September, and BLS’s seasonally adjusted figure in the release is a 7.9% drop. Diesel still costs more than twice what it did a year ago, up 115.2%. Steel went the other way. Steel mill products rose 2.7% in October and are 32.9% above a year earlier, and structural, architectural and pre-engineered metal products rose 1.7%. BLS named fabricated structural metal products among the indexes that pushed processed goods prices higher. Lumber fell 2.5%, its third straight monthly decline, and ready-mix concrete slipped 0.1%.
The broader release moved the same way. BLS said final demand prices rose 0.3% in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, after 1.4% in September, and that final demand energy edged down 0.1%. For processed goods sold to businesses, the 12-month increase reached 14.6%, which BLS called the largest since July 2022.
So the price of finished buildings caught up a little. BLS’s index for new nonresidential building construction, which tracks what builders receive for the work, rose 1.8% in October to 189.731 and is 5.5% above a year earlier. This index tends to move at the start of a quarter. It rose 2.3% in July, changed by less than 0.1% in August and September, and then took the October step. Since October 2024, goods inputs to nonresidential construction are up 14.9% and new nonresidential building prices are up 8.4%.
How to use this number
Escalation on open jobs is the first use. The aggregate index was flat, but the pieces moved in opposite directions, so a clause tied to the total would have paid nothing this month while a steel package saw 2.7% and a fuel-heavy sitework job saw a 4.6% decline. Tie each clause to the index that matches what you are buying. The site’s post on tying an escalation clause to a BLS index walks through the wording and the arithmetic.
The second use is a check on fixed-price margin. Take the jobs on your work-in-progress schedule that still have steel to buy out:
- Find the month each estimate was priced.
- Look up the steel mill products index for that month and for October 2026.
- Compare the percentage change with the change in your own quoted steel prices over the same months.
A job priced in January 2026 carries a 26.7% move in the steel mill index through October. If your supplier quotes track that index and the contract has no escalation clause, the cost-to-complete update on that job is where the change will show up first.
Revisions and caveats
October’s figures are preliminary. BLS revises PPI data for up to four months after first publication to pick up late reports and corrections, and this release revised June through September. The goods index for September moved from 365.374 in the October 15 vintage to 364.996, which trims September’s monthly gain from 2.2% to 2.1% and its 12-month gain from 11.2% to 11.1%. August moved up slightly, from 357.508 to 357.544.
BLS collects these prices for the Tuesday of the week containing the 13th of the month, so October’s index describes prices around October 13. A price change after that date will appear in November’s figures, which BLS is scheduled to publish on December 15, 2026. BLS files the new nonresidential building index under “Construction (Partial)” in its series title, so read it as a guide to direction more than to the price of any one bid.