Steel prices jumped 40% in under six months during the last major supply chain disruption. Lumber and concrete followed. If you've been burned by price swings between bid day and delivery, you already know what that costs. Pre-purchasing materials by locking in prices by buying early is a smart hedge. But it creates accounting problems most GCs aren't set up to handle. Misclassified assets, missed write-downs, and sloppy tracking can erase every dollar you saved and create re

You've ordered $47,000 worth of custom electrical switchgear for a commercial project. It's paid for, sitting in your warehouse, properly tagged with the project name, and won't be installed for another six weeks. Can you bill the owner for it now? The short answer: yes, probably. But the longer answer involves contract language, proper documentation, and understanding exactly what owners and lenders expect before they'll release payment. Getting it wrong can stall your cash

When steel prices jump 25% overnight because of a new tariff announcement, that carefully calculated bid you submitted last week becomes a losing proposition. This scenario has become painfully common for contractors, builders, and project managers who find themselves caught between locked-in contracts and spiraling material costs. Rising tariffs are wrecking job costs across the construction industry, and the traditional approach of padding estimates with a comfortable margi

Material costs just jumped 30% on your active project. Your fixed-price contract is bleeding money. Sound familiar? You're not alone. In 2026, construction material costs are rising 5-50% across key categories steel, lumber, concrete, and copper leading the surge. This isn't a temporary blip. It's the new reality shaped by tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and megaproject demand. Here's what this means for your business:  A 20% material cost increase can wipe out 50-70% of y