Partner Engineering and Science, a construction risk-management consulting firm, shared insights into the industry’s response to recently imposed tariffs. Via monthly project monitoring as well as informal polling of their clients, Partner is building a picture of how much impact the tariffs will have on overall project budgets and how contractors and developers are preparing for the increases.
According to Bob Barone, Partner’s director of institutional construction services, “There are so many variables — type of project, location, design, material specifications — that affect project budgets. When you hear about, say, a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum, it’s easy to imagine construction budgets jumping significantly. But depending on the project, materials account for roughly 40 to 60 percent of total construction cost, and in most cases a relatively small percentage of that cost comes from imported materials. In
