Cost Index — Material & labor trends for estimators

Customize Weights
Material Mix
✓ Total: 100%
Material / Labor Split
Material 40%
Labor: 60% (auto-balances)
📦 Materials
PPI from FRED
Index Wt YoY Trend
Weighted Avg: +0.0%
👷 Labor
BLS CES
Avg Hourly Earnings (Construction)
$35.42
Year-over-Year
+4.5%
12-Month Trend
📈 Calculate Escalation — Drywall
How many months until project start?
6
months
Short-term project
Conservative
Fixed-price bids, tight margins
+0.0%
Base Case
Standard bids, typical conditions
+0.0%
Aggressive
Long projects, supply chain risk
+0.0%
Materials (40%): +0.0% / +0.0% / +0.0%
Labor (60%): +0.0% / +0.0% / +0.0%
⚠️ Starting point only. Based on national PPI/wage data. Actual escalation varies by region, supplier, and market. Verify with quotes on major bids.

Material Weight Breakdown — Drywall

Each weight represents the estimated portion of material costs for this trade, mapped to the closest available PPI index:

Weight Component Tracked Via

How We Calculate Escalation

Data Sources: Material costs use Producer Price Index (PPI) data from FRED. Labor costs use Average Hourly Earnings from BLS.

Weighted Material Index:

// Weighted average of YoY changes weightedYoY = Σ (material YoY × weight)

Escalation Formulas:

// Conservative: Blend with historical avg (2.5%/yr) conservative = ((YoY × 0.5) + (2.5% × 0.5)) ÷ 12 × months // Base: Project recent trend forward base = YoY ÷ 12 × months // Aggressive: Recent trend + 20% buffer aggressive = (YoY × 1.2) ÷ 12 × months

Combined:

combined = (materialEsc × 40%) + (laborEsc × 60%)

Limitations:

  • PPI indices are national averages — regional pricing varies
  • Not all materials have specific indices (proxies noted above)
  • Past trends don't guarantee future performance
  • Labor data is construction-wide, not trade-specific
  • Weights are estimates based on typical projects