# Construction Input Costs Surge 12.6% Early 2026: Should You Order Telehandlers Before H2 Pricing Resets?
The 12.6% annualized jump in construction input costs across January and February 2026 will not hit your telehandler invoice on the same curve. Steel, copper, oil, and lumber are all moving up, but pass-through to finished telehandlers depends on which factory built yours, what tariff layer applies, and how much margin cushion the brand has been carrying.
AGC’s tracking of February data flagged the spike as “staggering,” driven mainly by a sharp rise in oil, copper, lumber, and steel. The 50% US tariff on items made entirely or mostly from steel, aluminium, and copper compounds the input pressure for any telehandler manufacturer with US-bound shipments. Add the 25% derivative-content tariff and the 15% industrial-equipment grid tariff still in effect through 2027, and Q3-Q4 2026 list prices from CAT, Deere, JCB North America, and JLG are likely to step up another bracket.
European brands have been more measured in their public statements. Manitou’s Q1 2026 commentary referenced raw-material inflation but indicated forward orders were locked at H1 prices through July. Merlo’s North American expansion at CONEXPO 2026 was structured around “Merlo City” application demonstrations rather than aggressive pricing announcements, which usually signals a hold on list prices for one quarter and a quiet reset behind the scenes.
The Chinese factory-direct supply route faces the same global steel and copper inputs, but the cost stack is different. There is no Section 232 derivative load on the OEM side, no inland US trucking margin, and no dealer-network markup that absorbs and amplifies input-cost shocks. The visible impact tends to be a 4-7% landed-cost step rather than the 10-14% step seen with US-built or US-imported European brands during input-cost cycles.
| Cost Layer (Q1 2026 deliveries) | EU brand, US dealer | EU brand, direct import | China factory-direct |
|—|—|—|—|
| Steel/copper input inflation flow-through | +6-9% over Q4 2025 | +5-7% | +4-6% |
| Section 232/301 tariff load (US destination) | Embedded | 15-50% on derivative content | Varies by HS code |
| FX exposure | USD list, dealer hedge | EUR FOB, USD landed | RMB FOB, USD landed |
| Dealer margin layer | 18-25% | None | None |
| Typical Q3 2026 expected reset | +5-8% | +3-5% | +2-4% |
If you are a rental fleet operator placing 10+ units annually, the order-timing question now matters more than the brand question. A purchase order locked in May or June at H1 pricing carries 3-6 months of cost certainty against a Q3 reset. If your usage profile is fixed (rental fleet utilisation, scheduled deliveries to job sites with known equipment specs), forward-ordering the next 12 months of fleet renewal at current pricing protects against the input-cost cycle.
If you are a contractor running a job-by-job equipment plan, the calculation flips. Your delivery windows are tied to project award dates, and you cannot warehouse 12 months of telehandlers waiting for projects. The decision becomes which brand absorbs input-cost shocks with the smallest margin elasticity. China-direct supply, with no dealer-margin layer to inflate, tends to show smaller cycle-to-cycle pricing swings, which makes pricing easier to plan into bid sheets.
If you are an importer-distributor in Africa, Latin America, or Central Asia, you are already pricing in steel and copper through your local-currency exposure and import-duty layer. The H1 2026 window may be the last one before a Q3 reset, and the freight-cost overlay (see the companion report on Asia-EU vs Asia-US container rates this month) adds a second timing variable on top.
The trade-off worth stating: EU brands carry stronger residual values in markets where second-hand auction depth is established (UK, Germany, France, US, Australia). Chinese factory-direct units have thinner secondary-market data, which raises insurance valuation friction in some jurisdictions. For fleets with 4-7 year hold periods this matters less. For rental businesses cycling units every 3 years, the residual gap can offset 30-40% of the upfront cost advantage.
Where China-direct supply has been closing this gap is in factory-spec configurability and pre-negotiated parts-kit terms. A factory-direct order can lock 5-year wear-part pricing into the contract, which removes one of the historical cost surprises that reduced residual confidence in Chinese-built equipment.
For your H2 2026 fleet plan, the question is not whether telehandler list prices will reset higher. They will reset higher across every brand. The real question is which combination of timing and supply route protects your landed cost the most. Request a configuration-specific landed-cost comparison (EU vs China factory-direct, by destination port) before locking H1 pricing for forward orders.
## Sources
– [Construction Owners — Construction Material Prices Jump 12.6% in Early 2026](https://www.constructionowners.com/news/construction-costs-surge-in-2026)
– [AGC Tariff Resource Center for Contractors](https://www.agc.org/tariff-resources-contractors)
– [Trade Compliance Resource Hub — Trump 2.0 Tariff Tracker](https://www.tradecomplianceresourcehub.com/2026/03/24/trump-2-0-tariff-tracker/)