Contractor Materials Tariff Calculator

This calculator estimates the import duty and landed cost of a construction material package. It opens preset to steel at the site's trade-weighted rate of 40.2%. Enter the material's customs value, freight, and fees to see what tariffs add to your bid. For specific products, override the rate: most steel, aluminum, and copper building products now pay 50% under Section 232. This is an informational tool, and its results are estimates. Use your supplier's quotes for bid pricing.

For the full cost of setting up a contracting business, materials included, see contractor startup costs.

How to use the calculator for a bid

The category selector is hidden on this page because the tool is locked to steel. To price another material, keep the calculator and type the material's rate into the tariff rate field, or open the general calculator with that material preselected:

• Aluminum (43.2%)
• Copper (22.4%)
• Wood products (7.0%)
• Tools and cutlery (12.2%)
• Glass and ceramics (8.0%)

Inputs:

1. Shipment / product value: the import value of the material, meaning what the importer paid the foreign mill or supplier. If you buy from a US distributor, this is not your purchase price. See the distributor example below.
2. Tariff rate: the default is a category average. For a known product, use the line rate from the table below or from the HTS-8 tariff lookup.
3. Freight & insurance and other fees: ocean or truck freight, brokerage, and port charges.

The result shows duty and landed cost. Duty = value × rate, and landed cost = value + duty + freight + fees.

Current tariff rates on common building materials

Line rates below come from the site's dataset (vintage June 9, 2026) and show the additional tariff layer. The General column is the base HTS rate from the USITC schedule. Add the two.

Under Proclamation 11021, metal duties apply to the full customs value of covered articles from April 6, 2026, not just the metal content. Rates below 50% in the data mostly reflect origins with reduced rates, such as UK products at 25%, or lines that include some exempt trade. For lumber, Proclamation 10976 set 10% on softwood timber and lumber from October 14, 2025. Canadian softwood lumber also carries separate antidumping and countervailing duties that are not in this table.

Metal products covered by Section 232 are exempt from the 10% or 12.5% Section 301 duty that began July 24, 2026, so the two don't stack. Plywood, tile, and other non-232 materials from most Asian origins now owe 12.5% on top of their General rate.

Worked example: an imported structural steel package

A general contractor buys a steel package for a two-story commercial building through a fabricator that imports beams and plate. The import value is $120,000. Ocean freight and insurance are $6,500, and broker and port fees are $1,200.

Using the category default (40.2%):

• Duty: $120,000 × 40.2% = $48,240
• Landed cost: $120,000 + $48,240 + $6,500 + $1,200 = $175,940

Using the line rate for beams (50%, General free):

• Duty: $120,000 × 50% = $60,000
• Landed cost: $120,000 + $60,000 + $6,500 + $1,200 = $187,700

The category average would under-budget this package by $11,760. For structural steel, plate, rebar, and pipe, use 50% unless you know the product is from the UK or made from US-melted steel, which pays 10% as a derivative.

Worked example: cabinets through a distributor

Most contractors don't import. They buy from distributors who do, and the duty arrives inside the distributor's price. Suppose a distributor imports a kitchen's worth of wooden cabinets with a $6,000 import value and marks up its landed cost by 30%.

The scheduled step-up adds $1,950 to the contractor's cabinet cost for one kitchen, an 18.5% increase, even though the duty itself rises only $1,500. The January 2026 amendment set that date. Quotes for jobs installing cabinets after January 1, 2027 should either price the higher rate or carry an escalation provision.

One data caution: the cabinet lines (9403.40.90 and 9403.60.80) show 45–46% in the site's dataset, close to the postponed 50% rate rather than today's 25%. Use 25% for cabinets entered before 2027.

Worked example: copper tube for a plumbing and HVAC rough-in

A mechanical subcontractor's supplier imports seamless copper tube (7411.10.10) with a $30,000 import value for a multifamily project.

• Category default (22.4%): $30,000 × 22.4% = $6,720
• Line rate plus General rate (50% + 1.5% = 51.5%): $30,000 × 51.5% = $15,450

The category average would understate duty by $8,730. The copper category is pulled down by refined cathode, which enters duty-free and is used by mills, not by contractors. Anything a contractor installs, such as tube, wire, fittings, and bus bar, is semi-finished or finished copper. Budget those at about 50% unless your supplier documents a different origin treatment.

If the supplier has the tube drawn in the United States from imported cathode, the import duty largely disappears from the chain. Domestic tube prices may still rise for the reasons below.

Why domestic materials move too

Tariffs raise prices on US-made materials even when no import is involved. Domestic mills and sawmills face less import competition, and their own imported inputs cost more. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the 2025 tariffs found that these indirect effects took nine to twelve months to reach consumer prices (Staff Report 1201). In practice, a "buy American" material list doesn't insulate a bid from tariff-driven price increases. It changes the timing and size of the increase.

Protecting a bid from tariff changes

The steel, aluminum, and copper rules were rebuilt without advance notice in April 2026, and wood-product rates are scheduled to change on January 1, 2027. Practical safeguards:

• Short quote validity. Hold material prices for 15–30 days rather than 90 on metal-heavy scopes.
• Material price escalation clause. Tie an adjustment to a documented change in supplier price or published tariff rate after the bid date, with a threshold and a cap.
• Allowances for volatile items. Carry steel, copper, and cabinets as allowances when the owner selects products later.
• Early buyout. Lock pricing and deposit on long-lead metal packages as soon as the contract is signed.
• Document the rate date. Note the tariff rate and date assumed next to each material line. It is your evidence in a change-order discussion.

For broader contract risk practices, see the general contractor risk management guide. For permit fees that sit alongside material costs in a project budget, the building permit cost calculator covers the local side.

Reading the result for different project types

• Commercial steel-frame or metal-building jobs: every imported dollar of covered steel or aluminum adds 50 cents of duty before freight and markup. Run the metal packages at 50% and the rest of the material list at its own rates.
• Residential remodels: exposure concentrates in cabinets, appliances, fixtures, and tile. Each is a smaller dollar amount, but the cabinet step-up in 2027 is significant.
• Electrical and plumbing: copper tube and wire at 50% matter more than the 22.4% copper average suggests, because refined cathode, which isn't a contractor purchase, drags the average down.
• Wood-frame residential: softwood lumber at 10% plus any antidumping duty on Canadian lumber. Plywood and OSB from most origins carry the new Section 301 duty.

To see how these duties reach your customers' prices, use the tariff pass-through calculator. For the reasons metals rank highest overall, read highest tariff product categories.