BLS PPI Release Day: Which Open Contractor Quotes to Reprice Before Lunch

Reopen every unsigned quote where copper, brass, wire and cable, steel, or aluminum makes up a big share of the material line, and do the largest material dollars first. Pull today's price from your distributor for those items, re-run the job with the new material cost, and resend before the customer signs the old number. Quotes that are mostly labor can sit.

That is the whole routine. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the September 2026 U.S. Producer Price Index on Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET, according to the BLS Schedule of Releases for the Producer Price Index. The rest of this post walks through how to read the print, how to sort your open quotes in about fifteen minutes, and how to rebuild one quote line by line.

If your question is how many days a quote should stay valid in the first place, that is covered in how long a contractor quote is good for. This post is only the release-morning routine.

What the print can tell you, and what it cannot

The producer price index for construction materials tells you that a category of goods moved at the producer level. It does not tell you what your supply house will charge you this afternoon. Treat the print as the signal that decides which quotes get reopened, and treat the distributor sheet or supplier quote as the only source for the new numbers.

One mistake shows up every release day: a shop sees a metals line up some percent and multiplies its old quote by that percent. Do not do that. A PPI percent is a national index for a commodity class, measured over a specific window. Your cost depends on your distributor, your account pricing, the exact items on the job, and when that distributor last repriced. The index and your invoice can move by very different amounts.

The numbers you are comparing against

The first table below holds the August 2026 data, released September 10, 2026, as first reported. They are your baseline. The second table holds the September 2026 figures BLS released this morning.

The September 2026 figures

BLS released the September 2026 U.S. Producer Price Index at 8:30 AM ET on October 15, 2026 (BLS PPI news release). The percentages below are worked out from the national, not seasonally adjusted index level BLS published for each line. BLS revised the August indexes in the same release, which is why the August table above is labeled as first reported. September figures are preliminary, and BLS can revise them for four months.

How to read the September print against August

Open the BLS PPI release and go to the detailed commodity tables. Find the same lines named in the table above: copper and brass mill shapes, copper wire and cable, steel mill products, aluminum mill shapes, and inputs to new nonresidential construction. Compare like with like. The August figures above are mostly year-over-year changes, so set them next to the September year-over-year change for the same line.

Then look at the one-month change for each line, because that is closer to what happened since you wrote your open quotes. A year-over-year number tells you the climb has been long. The monthly number tells you whether it kept going after your last price pull. A metals line that rose again in September means quotes written in August or early September on that metal go to the top of your pile. A line that went flat means those quotes are probably close, and a quick spot check with your distributor will confirm it.

If you do not want to dig through the tables, AGC and ENR both published their readings of the August data on the release date, September 10, 2026. Check whether either has posted on the September data before you start.

The before-lunch routine

1. Pull your list of open quotes from your estimating software, your sent folder, or the job tickets on your desk. You want every quote that has been sent and has no signature yet. Write down the quote date and the price next to each one.
2. Next to each quote, write the dollars of copper, brass, wire and cable, steel, and aluminum on the material line. This comes from the takeoff or material list attached to the job ticket. If the takeoff is not itemized, use the whole material cost and mark it for a closer look.
3. Divide those metal dollars by the quoted price to get a material share. Sort the list from highest share to lowest. Break ties by raw dollars, biggest first.
4. Read the release for the lines that match your top quotes. An electrician cares most about copper wire and cable. A plumber cares about copper and brass mill shapes. A GC or HVAC shop with structural steel, ductwork, or aluminum in scope checks steel mill products and aluminum mill shapes.
5. For the quotes at the top of the list, get today's cost on the big items. Log in to the distributor portal, open the current price sheet, or call the counter and ask for a quote on the three or four line items that carry most of the dollars. Write the date and the rep's name on the job ticket.
6. Re-run each job in the calculator with the new material cost. Leave hours, crew, and labor rate alone unless something about the scope changed.
7. Check the fuel line on diesel-heavy quotes. See the short fuel check below.
8. Set the quote valid days to match how long your supplier will hold the new price, then resend with a one-line note that the revision reflects current material pricing.

When the distributor has not updated yet

Distributors do not reprice at 8:30 AM because BLS published a report. Their sheets move when their own costs move, and that may have happened two weeks ago or may happen next week. If the portal still shows a price list dated before your quote, call and ask directly whether an increase is scheduled and when it takes effect. If the rep cannot say, ask for a written supplier quote with a hold date on your large items and price off that. If you cannot get either one today, shorten the quote valid days on the resend so the old number does not sit open for weeks.

A quick fuel check

AGC's September 10, 2026 analysis put the diesel fuel PPI up 77.8% from August 2025 to August 2026. If an open quote involves long hauls, heavy equipment hours, or generator time, compare the fuel line on that quote against your latest fuel card statement and update it in the same pass.

Sorting the pile: which quotes first, which can wait

Here is what a sorted list might look like. Every dollar amount in this table is an assumed example, made up to show the sort.

The top two rows carry enough metal that a distributor increase changes the job. The third has real metal dollars but a low share, so a few minutes checking the line set and sheet metal prices is enough. The fourth is nearly all labor. Even a large swing on $180.00 of parts will not move that job in a way worth a resend.

Trade matters for which line you watch. Shops pricing wire-heavy work can find trade-specific guidance on the electrician job pricing page, copper pipe and fittings on the plumber job pricing page, and equipment and metals on the HVAC job pricing page.

A worked example: reopening one copper-heavy quote

This is an example with assumed inputs throughout. Say an electrical shop sent a quote three weeks ago for a feeder run and subpanel, the first row in the table above. The customer has not signed.

The assumed inputs

• On-site time is assumed at 16 hours with a crew of 2.
• Loaded labor rate is assumed at $42.00 per hour. This is the shop's cost per hour for wage, payroll taxes, workers' comp, and benefits. It is a cost and has nothing to do with what the shop bills. If you have not worked yours out, see burdened labor rate for contractors.
• Drive time is assumed at 1.5 hours total for the job, with both workers in the truck.
• Fuel is assumed at $35.00, taken from the shop's fuel card average for that distance.
• Material cost on the old distributor sheet was assumed at $2,400.00, mostly copper wire and cable.
• Material cost on today's distributor sheet is assumed at $2,760.00 for the same list.
• Overhead is assumed at 15%, from the shop's P&L.
• Target margin is assumed at 20%. Material markup stays at 0.

The original quote

Planned profit on the original quote was $5,606.88 minus $4,485.50, which is $1,121.38.

The refreshed quote

What the gap means

The refreshed price is $6,124.38 and the original was $5,606.88, a gap of $517.50. Material cost rose by $360.00 in this example, yet the price had to rise by more than that, because overhead and margin both ride on top of the material line.

Now suppose the shop does nothing and the customer signs the old quote. Revenue is $5,606.88 and the real cost is $4,899.50. Profit falls to $707.38, and $707.38 divided by $5,606.88 is a margin of about 12.6% where the shop planned on 20%. That is $414.00 of profit gone on one job from one line that was three weeks stale.

For a sense of scale only, ENR reported copper wire and cable up 27.2% from August 2025 to August 2026 (Engineering News-Record, September 10, 2026). A move of that size on the assumed $2,400.00 material line would be $652.80. That is an illustration of how large a year of movement can be on one line. It is no forecast of what your distributor will charge.

Putting the new cost into the calculator

Open the calculator and work down the fields in plain order. Hours, crew size, and loaded labor rate stay as they were unless the scope changed. Material cost is the field you are here for, and the number comes from today's distributor sheet or supplier quote. Overhead % stays put unless your P&L says otherwise. Fuel and travel get a look on diesel-heavy work. Margin is your target, and quote valid days is the last thing you set before sending.

Enter materials at your cost. Your margin already earns profit on materials. If you also want a materials markup, use the optional Material Markup field: it adds profit on top of your margin, and the calculator shows your effective margin.

The Material Markup field defaults to 0, and the example above keeps it there. The method for choosing a markup once your cost is current is in how to mark up materials as a contractor.

A sanity check you can do in your head

With markup at 0, each dollar of added material cost raises the price by (1 + overhead %) divided by (1 - margin). In the example that is 1.15 divided by 0.80, or 1.4375. Multiply the $360.00 material increase by 1.4375 and you get $517.50, which matches the gap between the two quotes. If your refreshed price moved by a very different ratio, something other than material cost changed between runs. Go back and compare the inputs.

Situations that change the answer

The quote is already signed

A signed quote at a fixed price is a contract, and a PPI release does not reopen it. Re-run the job anyway so you know your real margin, then protect it by buying the metals now or asking your supplier to hold the price. If the contract has an escalation clause, read the next item.

The quote has an escalation clause

Read the clause before you call the customer. Example language often names a trigger (for instance a documented supplier increase above a set percent) and a notice step. Do not assume a national index print alone meets that trigger. What shops commonly use as proof is a dated supplier quote or invoice next to the one they priced from, so save both and match them to whatever your clause actually requires.

The quote is still inside its validity window

If you wrote "valid 30 days" and it is day 12, the customer can reasonably expect that price. You have three choices: honor it and absorb the difference, honor it and lock your material today so the difference stays small, or call and explain honestly that material costs moved and offer the revised number. Which one you choose depends on the dollar gap and the relationship. Run the numbers first so you know what honoring it costs.

The customer is about to sign today

This quote jumps the line regardless of material share. Get today's price on the big items before the signature, even if it means a ten-minute call to the counter. If the gap is small, let it go and close the job. If it is large, send the revision before the meeting so the customer does not hear about it across the table.

Materials are already bought or on hold

If the wire is in your shop or your supplier has confirmed a hold in writing, your cost for that job is the price you paid or locked. Leave that quote alone. Check the hold's expiration date, because a hold that lapses next week puts the quote back on the list.

The print shows prices falling

The routine runs the same in the other direction. Check the distributor sheet before assuming your cost dropped, because distributors working through inventory bought at the higher price can lag a decline. If your cost did fall on a quote you are competing for, re-running it may let you sharpen the price and keep the same margin. On a quote the customer has already accepted in principle, you have no obligation to reprice, though a lower number can help close a hesitant buyer.

A subcontractor's quote has metals in it

GCs carry this risk secondhand. If your open bid includes an electrical, plumbing, or mechanical sub number, look at the date and validity period on that sub's quote. A sub quote that expires before your customer signs leaves you holding a price your sub no longer has to honor. Call the subs with the heaviest metal scopes this morning and ask whether their number still stands.

Mistakes that cost money on release day

• Raising every open quote by the same percent. Sort by material share and reprice only the quotes where metal dollars are large, using actual supplier prices.
• Updating the material line and forgetting that overhead and margin follow it. Re-run the whole job so the price moves by the full amount.
• Comparing a year-over-year figure to a one-month figure. Match the window before deciding whether September was better or worse than August.
• Changing labor hours or rate while you are in there. If the scope did not change, the labor did not change. Mixing adjustments makes the revision hard to explain to the customer.
• Resending with the old validity period. A refreshed price deserves a fresh window that matches your supplier's hold.
• Repricing by phone with nothing in writing. Send the revised quote as a document. The layout that holds up is covered in how to write a contractor estimate.
• Skipping the morning because the headline number looked small. The overall index can be quiet while one metal moves hard, so check the specific commodity lines for your trade.

Before you hit send

Run down this short list on each revised quote. The material cost matches a dated distributor sheet or supplier quote saved to the job ticket. Markup, overhead %, and margin are the values you intended. The fuel line is current on diesel-heavy work. The quote valid days reflect how long your supplier will hold the price. The note to the customer says in one sentence that the revision reflects current material pricing.

If this morning showed you that your quotes drift out of date faster than you expected, the fix sits upstream in how the job is built. The full method, from loaded labor through margin, is in how to price a contractor job. The construction materials PPI comes out once a month, and fifteen minutes with your open quotes on each release morning is enough to keep a stale material line from eating your margin.