Study: Construction aggregate prices in Florida are up by 15%

The cost of building supplies has spiked since the start of the pandemic, rising by 41.2% nationwide, according to a new study.

In Florida, prices for construction aggregate — building materials like crushed stone, sand and gravel — have increased by 15%, according to Twisted Nail LLC, which provides aggregate in Texas and studied data from the U.S. Geological Survey for its analysis.

At the national level, construction aggregate prices rose an average of 15.8% from 2019 to 2022, according to the study, meaning Florida’s price increases were slightly below the national average.

Construction aggregate is used for making materials like concrete and asphalt, as well as for creating foundations and drainage systems. According to Twisted Nail, the United States produced $35 billion of crushed stone, sand and gravel in the last year alone.

In Florida, the price of sand and gravel climbed 16.8%, while crushed stone prices rose 15% from 2019 to 2022, the latest three-year period of data available. During the same time frame, prices across the country for sand and gravel increased 16.9%, while crushed stone prices went up 15.1%, according to the study.

Florida ranked No. 30 among all 50 states for its price increases of construction aggregate. 

States with the greatest increases in the cost for construction aggregate included New Jersey, which saw a 41.1% uptick; Utah with a 32.6% increase; and South Carolina, where costs rose 32% from 2019 to 2022, according to the study. 

Four states saw decreases in the price of construction aggregate: North Dakota (-16%), Delaware (-13.1%), Louisiana (-10.6%) and Idaho (-2.7%).

Multiple factors play into price increases for construction aggregate, including equipment and labor costs, transportation and local availability, Twisted Nail reports. 

“While the input costs to produce these aggregates has increased nationwide, an often overlooked driver of cost is the delivery fees associated with bringing these aggregates to their end-use location,” Hunter Kosar, owner of Twisted Nail, says in a statement. “These expenses can be as much as 30–70% of the contractor’s final cost of material.”

Because of its weight and the large volume required for projects, aggregate is less expensive when it is sourced close to where it is being used.

Florida is the third most prolific state in crushed stone production after Texas and Pennsylvania, producing 91.7 million tons of crushed stone a year, according to the analysis. It also makes 26.3 million tons of sand and gravel annually.