Where Tariff Costs Actually Land on a 2026 Construction Budget

One item matters most to anyone budgeting a kitchen this year. Imported kitchen cabinets carry a 25 percent tariff through January 1, 2027. The White House delayed the scheduled jump to 50 percent at the end of December 2025. If you're pricing a kitchen remodel in 2026, that number belongs in the conversation.

For context, steel sat at 25 percent until June 2025, when it doubled to 50, and entered 2026 there. The June 8 update didn't touch the headline rates. It widened the reduced - rate equipment bucket, exempted low - metal - content products, and eased the US - content rule. None of this is policy speculation. These are the rates active today.

WHAT IT COSTS AT THE PROJECT LEVEL

Cushman & Wakefield's running analysis, updated April 7, 2026, estimates the current tariff package adds about 6 percent to construction material costs against a 2024 baseline, and roughly 3 percent to total project costs. At the summer 2025 peak, before some rates moderated, the materials impact was estimated at 9 percent.

The sharper numbers come from the Associated General Contractors' May 13 analysis of April producer - price data. Copper and brass mill shapes are up 20.9 percent year over year. Aluminum mill shapes are up 37.3 percent, the steepest sustained run since the 2022 supply disruptions. Steel mill products are up 13.3 percent, decelerating from a winter peak above 20 as last year's doubling fades from the comparison. Framing lumber is the calm one, up 6.8 percent year over year in NAHB's tracking for the week of June 5. Canada supplies 85 percent of US softwood lumber imports and roughly a quarter of total US supply, which is why lumber policy matters here at all. NAHB's builder survey put the average tariff cost at $10,900 per home. That figure dates to April 2025 and remains the association's current estimate.

One detail owners miss. Products manufactured abroad with American - sourced metal still carry a 10 percent duty. Domestic raw material doesn't remove tariff exposure if fabrication happens overseas.

Three percent on a total project doesn't sound dramatic until you put it on a real number. On a $1.5M new build, it's $45,000. On a $500K kitchen-and - bath package, it's $15,000.

The 6 percent at the materials level is the more meaningful number for budget planning. If your contractor budgeted materials at $400,000 and didn't price tariffs into the bid, that's roughly $24,000 of unaccounted - for cost sitting somewhere in the project.

WHERE THE IMPACT ACTUALLY LANDS

The stack hits unevenly. Three areas concentrate most of the visible price movement.

Metal structural and trim work. Anything with significant steel or copper content. Structural steel, copper supply lines and trim, aluminum window and door packages, metal roofing. Direct 50 percent impact on the import portion of each line item.

Lumber and lumber derivatives. Framing lumber sits at 10 percent. The derivative category is sharper, 25 percent on engineered products that derive from imported wood and 25 percent on imported cabinetry. A custom cabinet package sourced internationally is noticeably more expensive than the same package sourced domestically.

Mechanical and electrical equipment. Imported HVAC units, electrical panels, and other finished equipment with major metal componentry run through the equipment category. The June 8 update moved more equipment categories, including certain HVAC equipment, into the reduced 15 percent bucket through 2027, which takes some pressure off mechanical line items. Worth rechecking any mechanical quote you received before June.

What's largely unaffected. Stone fabricated domestically, domestic millwork, ceramic tile from non - tariffed countries, plumbing fixtures from domestic manufacturers, finish carpentry hardware sourced domestically, paint, and most labor inputs.

WHO IS ABSORBING THIS

Honestly, it depends on the contract structure.

Most fixed - price contracts signed before 2025 didn't include material escalation clauses, so the contractor eats the increase. That's painful but rarely catastrophic, because a properly structured bid carries a materials contingency for exactly this kind of risk.

On lump - sum contracts signed in 2026, contractors are pricing the tariffs in. That just makes 2026 projects more expensive than 2024 projects on a like - for - like basis. The owner pays.

On time - and - materials or cost - plus contracts, the owner pays directly as actuals hit. There's no buffer.

The most exposed position is the owner who signed a fixed - price contract last year and is now requesting change orders that add new scope. The change orders are priced at 2026 material rates. The original scope still benefits from the 2024 pricing. The blended cost moves in one direction.

HOW WE'RE STRUCTURING BIDS

For any project we're bidding in mid - 2026, three things have changed in how we put numbers together.

We call out tariff exposure explicitly in the bid. The line items most likely to move are named, and the sourcing assumption behind each one, domestic, import, or mixed, is documented. The owner sees what they're underwriting.

We tag material price validity windows. A bid issued today references material pricing as of a specific date. If the project doesn't kick off for 90 days, we revisit those line items before mobilizing.

We push for domestic sourcing on metal and cabinetry where the spec allows it. On a recent bath remodel bid in Boston, we tagged the shower system and tile lines as tariff - exposed and put a 90 - day validity window on the materials section. That's the level of detail we're carrying now. And for projects where the design allows US - sourced cabinetry over imported, the savings now exceed the design premium of European sourcing for the first time in years.

WHAT TO ASK YOUR GC BEFORE SIGNING IN 2026

Three questions belong on the table before any contract gets signed this year.

Which line items in this bid carry meaningful tariff exposure, and what was your assumed source for each?

What's the price validity window on the materials portion of this bid?

If we add scope mid - project, are change order materials priced at the date of the original bid or the date of the change order?

The answers tell you what kind of risk you're actually taking. They also tell you whether the contractor has done the work to understand their own supply chain in 2026.

If you're scoping a project in Boston, Wellesley, Wayland, or anywhere nearby, reach out before you finalize the bid. We've seen the budget impact on enough real projects this quarter to walk through the math directly.

SOURCES

White House proclamations on aluminum, steel, and copper, signed April 2, 2026 and June 1, 2026. The June order took effect June 8, 2026. Federal Register documents published April 9 and June 4, 2026.

White House proclamation on timber and lumber, signed September 29, 2025, effective October 14, 2025. Amendments published January 9, 2026, including the cabinet - increase delay to January 1, 2027.

Cushman & Wakefield, The Impact of Tariffs on U.S. CRE Construction Costs, updated April 7, 2026.

Associated General Contractors of America analysis of April 2026 producer price data, published May 13, 2026.

NAHB framing lumber tracking, week of June 5, 2026. NAHB/Wells Fargo builder survey on per - home tariff cost, published April 16, 2025.

CBS News report on the furniture and cabinet tariff delay, published January 1, 2026. White House fact sheets, December 2025 and June 2026.