>In fact, no serious study of the construction industry pins cost increases on stuff like that. There are far more powerful factors at play. The laborers you hi

>In fact, no serious study of the construction industry pins cost increases on stuff like that. There are far more powerful factors at play. The laborers you hire want to be paid more than before (and the government is rising minimum wages). Compliance is getting costlier due to ever-evolving building codes, environmental and energy regulations, and zoning. Customer expectations are increasing (higher finish, more sqft). To the extent the materials are getting expensive, it's usually not your lumber mill being greedy. In general, you're probably seeing some increased disparity between the cost of things that require some significant levels of labor--especially if skills are involved to any great degree--and those that can be dealt with mostly by "just" throwing capital at the problem. Over time I expect you'll see more automation, more self-service, and--yes--more just doing without of things that cost more to deliver than you can or want to pay for.