Vendor Price Increase Customer Communication

Produce the complete decision matrix and customer-facing communication packet a plumbing shop needs when its supply houses and manufacturers push through a wave of price increases. In 2026 this is no longer a rare event — the PHCP-PVF industry has settled into quarterly waves, with April 2026 alone bringing Charlotte Pipe 10% on PVC/CPVC, Merit Brass 6–12% on brass fittings and nipples, Matco-Norca 2.5%, ICP Parts 4%, Honeywell 5%, IPEX 10%, Crane 5.3%, and National Comfort Products 7% — on top of continued upward pressure on copper, brass, and resin globally. The shop has to decide three things very quickly each time: which of its outstanding quotes, signed proposals, and in-progress jobs get grandfathered at the old price and which get re-quoted; how its membership-plan covered services and flat-rate pricebook items absorb the increase (or not); and how it tells customers about it without sounding like it is nickel-and-diming them.