Prices of materials and services used in new nonresidential construction leaped nearly 21 percent in April from year-ago levels, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. The association urged the Biden administration to provide relief to hard-hit employers by ending tariffs on key construction materials and reconsidering its recently proposed Buy America regulations that will make it harder for firms to find and pay for key construction materials.
“Nonresidential contractors have endured twelve months of 20-percent increases in the cost of items they need to build projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “While they have been able to pass some of those increased costs on to clients, most of those increases have come out of their own bottom line.”
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