Budgeting direct input costs on materials and labor for 2018 could hardly be more challenging. Policy uncertainties on immigration, on trade, on taxation, on regulation make projecting expenses a fool’s errand. …Here’s a report from National Association of Home Builders economics department analyst David Logan on key readings from the lastest Bureal of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index (PPI), focusing on two important commodities for builders, OSB and softwood lumber. Logan zeroes in on OSB specifically because it seems to have de-coupled from a number of other materials costs, even as economy-wide producer prices inched up 0.4% in September.