Contractor Sentiment: Positive Sentiment Shifts from Q4 2024 Through Q1 2025

In Q4 of 2024 Principia launched our first Contractor Sentiment Dashboard. Principia’s sentiment dashboard series is intended to track the perceptions of key purchase decision makers throughout the building products value chain.  Comparison of contractor sentiment results from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025 on lead times, price increases and product substitutions generally reveal short-term improvement.

Lead times are improving

The percentage of contractors reporting a decline in lead times from their distributors and product suppliers in Q1 of 2025 is in line with findings from our recent Homebuilder and Lumberyard sentiment dashboards.

Price increases appear to be easing

The percentage of contractors reporting an adverse impact of price increases has sharply declined from late 2024. Principia will continue to monitor the perceived effects of price increases to help get a pulse on the economic environment’s impact on building material prices.

Brand and/or product substitutions are marginally increasing

Moving into early 2025, we see a slight increase in the percentage of contractors reporting they have substituted alternatives in place of their preferred brand and/or material.