If you’ve been watching lumber prices lately, you already know the story: Canadian softwood lumber tariffs jumped to 35% last year, with an additional 10% Section 232 tariff on top of that. All in, a 45% premium on Canadian imports. Steel’s not far behind. The AGC of America was out just last week urging contractors to revisit their contract language before their next project – not after the dispute is already underway.
But here’s the thing most price guides still get wrong: the sticker price at the yard isn’t your actual material cost. Not even close.
The Hidden Multiplier Nobody Talks About
Think about the last time a delivery showed up late, to the wrong entrance, or missing half the order. Your crew stood around. The framing schedule slipped. Maybe you ate the cost of a re-delivery fee. That’s not a lumber cost – that’s a delivery cost. And in a market where material prices are already volatile, letting delivery inefficiency ride is burning money you don’t have to burn.
One estimator put it bluntly in a piece published this week: “If a crew of four takes six days to do a job that used to take four, your effective material-in-place cost has skyrocketed.” Tariffs get the headlines. Delivery chaos eats the margin quietly.
What Smart Suppliers Are Doing Differently
The building supply yards that are holding onto their best contractor accounts right now have a few things in common:
- They’re communicating proactively. When a lumber shipment is delayed at the border due to tariff holds, the good yards call ahead. Contractors can adjust schedules. Bad yards wait until the morning of.
- They’re documenting everything. In a high-dispute environment – and 2026 is shaping up to be exactly that – proof of delivery isn’t optional. It’s your first line of defense when a contractor claims materials never arrived or were short-shipped.
- They’re tightening their delivery windows. Vague “morning delivery” promises are a liability. Specific ETAs protect both sides.
The Contract Language Problem (And How Delivery Fits In)
The AGC’s guidance this month focused on updating escalation clauses and force majeure language in contracts to account for tariff-driven price swings. That’s important. But it’s worth extending that thinking to your delivery terms too.
If your paperwork doesn’t clearly define what “delivered” means – what time, to what location on site, signed off by whom – you’re walking into every disputed delivery without documentation to back you up. In a high-volume operation, that gap adds up fast.
Tools like ezPOD are built specifically for this: timestamped, photo-verified delivery records that both the supplier and the contractor can reference without argument. It’s a small operational change that removes a big source of friction.
What to Watch in Q2 2026
The Federal Reserve has been signaling potential rate cuts in mid-2026. If that materializes, pent-up housing demand could flood the market fast – and lumber demand along with it. If you’re a supplier, now is the time to lock in processes that scale. If you’re a GC, now is the time to get your delivery documentation in order before project volume picks back up and disputes get harder to manage.
The yards that figure out the operational side – not just the pricing side – are going to be in the best position when that demand wave arrives. Get the contracts right. Get the delivery documentation right. And don’t let sloppy delivery logistics turn a tariff headache into a margin disaster.
