The index reported here is an average of 20 U.S. cities for a composite of five types of commercial and industrial buildings. ENR publishes these in its second and fourth quarterly cost reports. ENR publishes BuRec's general property index that measures costs for office and maintenance buildings associated with its projects. See p. 71 of this issue for a detailed explanation of both indexes. In addition, Factory Mutual computes indexes for residential construction as well as industrial process machinery and equipment.
Indexes are available for Canada.
This index is based on an average industrial building in the St. Louis region, priced with the contractor's current material and labor costs. Adjustments are made for changes in construction materials and building methods. The index is weighted by using different percentages of labor, concrete, mortar, clay products, lumber, plastics, metals, paint and glass. The index reflects materials prices for ready-mix concrete, lumber, steel bars, brick, concrete block and wages for laborers and six skilled trades. Handy-Whitman indexes also are available for electric, gas and water utilities.