Drywall is the latest line item to move. A run of gypsum board price notices landed around mid-2026 from major manufacturers, including National Gypsum, American Gypsum, and CertainTeed, pushing contractors to re-check bids they thought were locked. It’s a small signal of a broader problem: material costs keep grinding higher.
What’s pushing material costs up
Three forces are pulling in the same direction. Energy is the big one, since making gypsum board, cement, and steel is heat-intensive and both oil and natural gas have climbed. Tariffs add the second push, with duties on metals and on Canadian and Mexican cement feeding through to jobsite prices. Elevated interest rates round out the squeeze on financing and inventory.
What it means for bids
Price notices with short effective windows force estimators to shorten quote validity, lock suppliers earlier, and build in escalation. For interior trades running on thin margins, a mid-project drywall increase can erase a job’s profit. Expect more substitution and tighter scheduling as crews try to buy ahead of the next notice.
Vertical projects like the Mutual of Omaha headquarters tower soak up huge quantities of these materials. NAHB tracks the underlying price trends.