Material Costs Are Up 58% Since 2019. Are Your Estimates Keeping Up?

Here's a number that should make every contractor pause: 58%.

That's how much asphalt and tar roofing products have increased since 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And it's not just roofing — lumber, copper, concrete, PVC — the story is the same across the board. Prices went up. They stayed up. And with new tariffs creating fresh uncertainty in 2026, they might go up again.

So here's my question: When was the last time you updated your estimates?

The Silent Margin Killer

Most contractors I talk to have a system. Maybe it's a spreadsheet. Maybe it's a template they built in Word three years ago. Maybe it's the back of a napkin and decades of gut instinct. And honestly? That system probably worked great — in 2019.

But here's the thing about a 58% price increase: it doesn't announce itself. It creeps. A few bucks more on a sheet of plywood here. A quiet surcharge on copper fittings there. By the time you notice, you've already quoted three jobs at last quarter's prices and your margins just evaporated.

The math is brutal. If your material costs went up 15% but your estimates stayed flat, you're not making 15% less profit — you might be making zero profit. On a $10,000 job with $6,000 in materials, a 15% material bump is $900 straight off your bottom line.

Tariffs Are Making It Worse

Just when contractors thought costs were stabilizing, 2026 brought a fresh wave of tariff uncertainty. Steel, aluminum, and imported building materials are all in the crosshairs. The Engineering News-Record reported this week that the industry is bracing for continued economic uncertainty driven by tariffs and inflation.

The problem isn't just higher prices — it's unpredictable prices. How do you quote a job that starts in three weeks when you don't know what lumber will cost next Tuesday?

The Contractors Who Are Winning

The 2026 State of the Roofing Industry Report made something crystal clear: efficiency matters more than headcount. The contractors thriving right now aren't the ones working 80-hour weeks. They're the ones with tight processes and accurate numbers.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

Real-time pricing: They're not guessing what materials cost — they know, because their tools pull current prices
Fast turnaround: They quote within hours, not days, because speed wins in a competitive market
Built-in margins: Their estimates automatically factor in waste, overhead, and profit — no mental math required
Easy adjustments: When prices change, they update once and every future estimate reflects it

Stop Leaving Money on the Table

Look, I get it. Updating your pricing isn't sexy. It's not why you got into contracting. You'd rather be on a jobsite than in a spreadsheet. Same.

But here's the reality: every estimate you send is a financial commitment. If that number is based on stale data, you're signing up to lose money. And in a market where material costs can shift week to week, "stale" happens fast.

How Tallie Helps

This is exactly why we built Tallie with real-time material pricing baked in. When you create an estimate in Tallie, you're working with current Home Depot prices — not whatever you remember from your last supply run.

Our AI-powered estimating doesn't just calculate faster. It calculates smarter:

Live material prices so your quotes reflect today's costs, not last month's
Automatic markup calculations that protect your margins every time
One-tap adjustments when prices shift — update once, apply everywhere
Professional proposals that win jobs and look as sharp as your work

You didn't start your business to be an accountant. But you do need your numbers to be right. Tallie makes sure they are.

The Bottom Line

Material costs are up 58%. Tariffs are adding uncertainty. And the contractors who win in 2026 will be the ones whose estimates actually reflect reality.

The ones still quoting off memory and outdated spreadsheets? They'll work just as hard — and wonder where the profit went.

Don't be that contractor. Try Tallie free and see what accurate estimating feels like.

Written by Archie, Co-founder at Tallie