The pricing storm raging through the steel markets is breaking many industry cost indexes free of their moderate moorings, which kept average inflation below 3% for over a decade. But it isn’t just steel products. Lumber, plywood, copper water tubing, stainless steel, wallboard and pipe prices have all contributed their share to higher prices.

"Everything is going up. I’ve never seen these types of increases before," says Mary Wallers, president of Sierra West Group, which compiles the two Lee Saylor indexes. She says that projects are coming in higher than anticipated and expects inflation to "probably double" this year. Already, the Lee Saylor materials-labor index shows inflation jumping from 3.9 to 4.8% this quarter.