Construction costs have continued to climb through 2025 and into 2026, and that reality is impacting how projects are planned and executed across the country. According to the latest Turner Building Cost Index, costs in the non-residential construction market rose in the fourth quarter of 2025 — a 1.14% increase from the previous quarter and a 4.72% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. That same report highlighted strong activity in data centers, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, higher education, sports, and aviation projects.
The message from the market is clear: construction isn’t slowing down, but costs are still ticking upward. And in this environment, logistics planning matters more than ever.
Too often, freight and material coordination gets folded into procurement or treated as a “task to check off.” But when costs are rising, schedules are tight, and crews are already stretched thin, treating logistics as a secondary concern invites real problems.
Here’s how logistics issues show up on projects right now:
Crews are left waiting because materials arrive out of sequence.
Equipment delays push critical path items off schedule.
Unplanned expedited shipments add premium costs right when budgets are already tight.
Turner’s data shows cost pressures are real and ongoing. Material prices, labor rates, and competitive market conditions are all factors in these rising numbers, and they don’t operate in isolation; they affect scheduling, procurement, and field execution together.
So if your team isn’t coordinating material delivery timing with on-site sequencing and schedule priorities, you’re effectively accepting risk without a plan to manage it.
Logistics isn’t one thing; it’s a set of practical capabilities that, when done right, reduces risk and protects productivity on site. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
On every project, there are moments when crews must have materials before they can proceed. When shipments are booked without a clear connection to those moments, crews wait. Planning material deliveries to align with installers’ needs reduces idle time and maximizes labor productivity.
Sequencing materials to match the schedule also avoids on-site congestion, something subcontractors and field leadership appreciate because it keeps work flowing.
When a delivery shifts unexpectedly, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Tracking inbound freight and sharing updates with field leadership lets everyone adapt without scrambling.
Visibility isn’t just about the software; it’s about shared awareness between your logistics team and the people executing the work.
Understanding how different freight modes serve your specific materials matters. For example:
- Flatbed may be required for specialty steel.
- LTL may make sense for packaged goods.
- Truckload may be best for bulk orders with tight timelines.
Identifying these needs in preconstruction and locking them in early helps avoid capacity bottlenecks later — especially when markets are tight.
Turner’s cost index isn’t just numbers on a page — it’s a reflection of what’s happening on the ground:
- Data centers and advanced manufacturing projects continue to expand, driving demand for labor and materials.
- Healthcare and institutional projects remain active, adding pressure to already crowded supply chains.
These ongoing pressures mean project teams must factor logistics into planning and scheduling — not after bids are submitted, but well before.
Here are targeted, actionable practices that make logistics work for you:
Identify long-lead items and specialty deliveries early. That gives you time to lock capacity and align deliveries with schedule milestones.
Point solutions built during bidding or design help avoid rush orders later.
Logistics should support the job’s critical path, not hinder it. When materials arrive just in time — and in the order required — field teams stay productive.
This alignment prevents downtime and keeps subcontractors on schedule.
You don’t want surprises when a carrier misses dates or doesn’t communicate. Track performance metrics over time — including on-time delivery rates and communication quality — and use this data in carrier selection.
Everyone who needs to know when materials are coming — foremen, project managers, lead carpenters — should have access to shipment status and timelines. Shared visibility reduces guesswork and last-minute change orders.
The reality of construction today is that costs aren’t retreating; they’re evolving. Material, labor, and market pressures are persistent, and Turner’s index reflects those ongoing trends.
Logistics doesn’t exist in a silo. It intersects with procurement, field operations, scheduling, and cost control. When you plan logistics purposefully — thinking through sequences, carriers, delivery timing, and visibility — you protect your team’s time and your project’s trajectory.
This isn’t theory. It’s how successful contractors are delivering projects on schedule and with confidence in today’s market.
You can read the full Turner’s Q4 2025 Texas Market Conditions Report report here: https://simplebooklet.com/q42025texasmarketconditionsreport#page=1