Export Purchase History From Your Supplier Portal
How to export purchase history from a supplier portal as a contractor, which fields you actually need, and what to do when the portal only hands you PDFs.
By Emily10 min read
Tag
price creep
43 articles tagged price creep from the CheckMySupply invoice audit desk.
Why Your Field Service Pricebook Drifts From Real Cost
ServiceTitan and every field service app freezes material cost the day you build the book. How pricebook material cost drift quietly eats your job margin.
By Emily10 min read
QuickBooks Material Items Setup for Contractors
Most shops book material as one lump sum, which erases unit price history at the source. A QuickBooks contractor material items setup that keeps every price.
By Emily10 min read
Build a Material Price Index From Your Own Invoices
How to build a material price index from invoices you already have: pick the basket, set a base month, weight it by real spend, and read what it tells you.
By Jordan11 min read
National Material Price Index vs Your Local Pricing
A national material price index tells you where the market moved, not what your branch charged you. Here is why local pricing diverges, and how to check.
By Jordan11 min read
Construction Input Costs vs Bid Prices: 8.4% vs 3.5%
Construction input costs rose 8.4% year over year while bid prices rose 3.5%. Here is where that 4.9-point gap lands, and what you can still do about it.
By Jordan10 min read
AGC Construction Inflation Data: How to Use It in a Bid
What AGC's construction inflation data on materials actually says each month, which figures belong in your bid, and how to use them as an escalation exhibit.
By Jordan10 min read
Construction Material Price Index Tracking, by Trade
Construction material price index tracking, series by series: the exact free BLS indexes for copper wire, plastic pipe, steel, ductwork and HVAC gear, with links.
By Jordan12 min read
Reading the Producer Price Index for Construction Materials
The producer price index for construction materials is free, monthly, and usable in ten minutes. Here is how to pull a series, read it, and not misuse it.
By Jordan10 min read
How to Benchmark Material Costs as a Contractor
Am I being treated badly on price? How to benchmark material costs as a contractor with your own invoice history, free BLS index data, and a second quote.
By Jordan10 min read
Refrigerant Price Increases Every HVAC Contractor Feels
A refrigerant price increase hits an HVAC contractor where nothing is checked. Here is how refrigerant, line set and sheet metal drift, and how to track them.
By Reena10 min read
HVAC Equipment Price Seasonal Increase: April vs July
The HVAC equipment price seasonal increase is real, but the factory index barely moves April to July. Here is where the summer premium actually gets added.
By Reena10 min read
Water Heater Price Increase: A Contractor's Checklist
A water heater price increase often is not an increase at all. A contractor guide to model-year rollovers, new catalog numbers, and resetting your rate.
By Reena10 min read
PVC Pipe Price Increase: What a Contractor Can Verify
A PVC pipe price increase hits contractors every quarter and the reason given is always resin. Here is what you can actually verify, and what you cannot.
By Reena10 min read
PEX vs Copper Cost Comparison for Contractors, 2026
A PEX vs copper cost comparison contractors can actually use: what the BLS producer price series show in 2026, and how to price both off your own invoices.
By Reena9 min read
Copper Fitting Price Increase: What a Plumber Can Check
A copper fitting price increase tracks the copper market more tightly than anything else you buy. Here is the mechanism, the index, and how to check yours.
By Reena10 min read
Conduit Price Increase: What Drives EMT, Rigid, and PVC
A conduit price increase starts with steel, aluminum, or PVC resin, not your rep. Here is what moves EMT, rigid, and PVC pricing, and how to check yours.
By Reena10 min read
Wire Price Increases: Romex, THHN and MC Cable Ranked
A wire price increase hits every electrical contractor differently. Romex, THHN and MC cable move at different speeds. Here is the 2026 ranking, and why.
By Reena10 min read
How Copper Prices Move Wire Prices at Your Supply House
The copper price effect on wire prices every contractor feels: how a move at the mill reaches your counter price, why it lags, and what the BLS data shows.
By Reena9 min read
The Contractor's Guide to Trade Material Costs in 2026
A trade material costs guide for contractors: what BLS index data says about electrical, plumbing and HVAC material in 2026, and which lines to watch.
By Reena11 min read
Tariffs and Construction Contracts: Who Eats the Increase
A tariff price increase mid-job is a construction contract question, not a trade policy one. Here is which clause decides who pays, and what to do this week.
By Emily10 min read
Which Index to Use in a Construction Escalation Clause
Which index to use in an escalation clause for construction: name the BLS series that matches your actual material exposure, not a broad construction average.
By Emily11 min read
How to Write a Material Escalation Clause That Pays Out
How to write a material escalation clause: picking the threshold, the cap and the index, with real BLS series IDs and the arithmetic worked line by line.
By Emily12 min read
ConsensusDocs 200.1 Price Escalation vs AIA A201
ConsensusDocs 200.1 price escalation is a real standard clause. AIA A201 has no equivalent. Here is what each document actually gives you, and what to add.
By Emily9 min read
Material Price Escalation Clause: How to Get One Accepted
How a material price escalation clause works in construction contracts: the named index, the trigger, the cap, and what to say when the owner pushes back.
By Emily10 min read
Bid vs Actual Material Cost: How to Measure the Gap
Bid vs actual material cost analysis in one hour a month: what to compare, where the numbers come from, and how to feed the gap back into the next bid.
By Emily11 min read
How to Bid Using Historical Material Costs, Not Catalogs
Bid using historical material costs from your own invoices instead of catalog prices. Here is how to build the unit-cost table, escalate it, and check it.
By Emily10 min read
Material Contingency vs Escalation Clause: Which One
Material contingency vs escalation clause: one is money you carry and can lose, the other is a contract right to be paid. Here is which belongs on which job.
By Emily9 min read
Live Material Pricing Estimating Software vs Your Invoices
Live material pricing estimating software prices your bid off a catalog feed your distributor runs. Your own invoices show what you actually pay. Use both.
By Emily10 min read
Estimating Material Costs Under Price Volatility
Estimating material costs during price volatility is a system, not a bigger contingency. Date-stamped quotes, your own purchase history, and a closed loop.
By Emily11 min read
Gross Margin by Job vs by Trade in Construction
Company margin looks fine while two jobs bleed out. Here is why gross margin by job in construction exposes material leakage that trade-level averages hide.
By Emily11 min read
WIP Report Material Costs: What Your Banker Sees
Material cost overruns land in your WIP report before they land in your P&L. Here is how a banker and bonding agent read a contractor WIP, line by line.
By Emily10 min read
Why Your Job Went Over Budget on Materials
Your job went over budget on materials and the estimate may not be why. Here is how to tell a bad takeoff from a market move from an invoice that drifted.
By Emily11 min read
Material Price Variance Formula vs Quantity Variance
The material price variance formula splits a blown material budget into two problems: what you paid per unit, and how much you used. Here is how to run both.
By Emily10 min read
What a Distributor SPA (Special Pricing Agreement) Is
A special pricing agreement is a distributor SPA with the manufacturer, not with you. Here is how a SPA sets your price, and why it stops applying silently.
By Alex9 min read
Supplier Raised a Price Without Notice: What to Do Now
Your supplier raised a price without notice. What to do next: confirm it off your own invoices, script the counter conversation, and ask for the credit.
By Jordan11 min read
Material Cost Increase Impact on Contractor Profit: The Math
The material cost increase impact on contractor profit, in dollars: what 6% annual price drift costs a shop buying $40K a month, and what you get back.
By Jordan9 min read
Same Company, Different Prices: Supply House Branches
One supply house, different prices at the same company for the same SKU. Here is why branch pricing splits, how to prove it, and how to get one rate loaded.
By Jordan9 min read
Electrical Supply House Price Increase: 5 Places It Hides
An electrical supply house price increase rarely lands on the big-ticket line. Here are the five line items where it actually hides on your monthly invoice.
By Jordan9 min read
Why Did Material Prices Go Up? Supplier Creep or Market
Why did material prices go up at your supplier? Part of it is a real market move and part of it is drift. Four tests that tell you which one hit your invoice.
By Jordan10 min read
How to Track Material Price History From Your Invoices
The spreadsheet method to track material price history as a contractor: which columns to build from twelve months of supply-house invoices, and how to use it.
By Jordan13 min read
How to Negotiate With Your Supply House
Negotiating on personality gets you nowhere. Negotiating with twelve months of your own unit prices gets you a number. Here is how to run that conversation.
By Alex12 min read
Material Price Creep: What It Is and How to Spot It
Same part, same supplier, higher price every month, and no phone call. What material price creep is, why nobody flags it, and how to find it on your invoices.
By Jordan12 min read