A new Associated General Contractors of America survey shows that member firms see some encouraging market signals this year but also indications that 2011 still will be tough. Related Links: AGC National 2011 Construction Outlook Survey Results The 2011 AGC outlook survey report, released on Jan. 24, sums up its findings: "Despite predictions of slight growth in demand for several key construction sectors and an improving construction employment picture, construction firms are bracing for at least one more difficult year as the benefits of the stimulus begin to fade and overall demand for construction remains weak." AGC CEO Stephen E.
Photo: Judy Schriener For ENR The sagging economy still weighed heavy on the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show Jan. 12-15 in Orlando, Fla. The ever-so-slow recovery, which David Crowe, chief economist for NAHB, labeled “a constant annoyance,” was the chief subject of conversations. Crowe admitted that, like most other economists, he was more optimistic at the beginning of 2010 than he was at the end of the year. Sales figures for single-family homes in 2010 were up, though just 7% higher than those of 2009, the worst year of the downturn. Crowe predicts growth of single-family home
Photo: Tudor Van Hampton For ENR Concrete people say the housing sector, one of the hardest-hit construction sectors, is holding back a recovery. “The housing market is definitely not on the way back up,” said Kevin L. Klein, vice president of engineering for slipform-paver producer Gomaco Corp., Ida Grove, Iowa. “I’m thinking it’s still going to be another two to three years.” Gomaco was one of more than 1,000 vendors displaying goods at this year’s annual World of Concrete, held January 18-21 in Las Vegas. In addition to a slow housing recovery, show attendees said, future road and bridge construction
Bright spots in the homebuilding industry are being embraced like a long-lost family pet by builders slogging through the seemingly endless recession. First cause for optimism is a resurgence in the 55-plus market, described as “the buzz of the show,” at a recent National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) event. Secondly, demand for multifamily housing is keeping many firms busy in anticipation of demand far outweighing supply in the next few years. And, the so-called Gen Y — some 80 million children of baby boomers — soon will flood both apartments and single-family homes, giving builders further hope for the
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is making headway in moving "TIGER" grants awarded early last year closer to actual construction. U.S. DOT announced on Dec. 29 that it had signed agreements with the Alabama and Tennessee DOTs on a $105-million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant for two intermodal freight facilities along the Norfolk Southern Corp.'s "Crescent Corridor". DOT release. Of the $105-million grant, half will go to Alabama to help finance a $97.5-million, 261-acre regional facility near McCalla, about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham. Norfolk Southern (NS) and other sources will fund the remainder of the project's total cost.
+ Image Construction’s December unemployment rate rose to 20.7% from November’s 18.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Construction’s unemployment rate averaged 20.6% for all 2010, which was above 2009’s 19.0% rate and 2008’s 10.6% rate. A worrisome sign is that the industry lost a further 16,000 jobs in December. That measurement is seasonally adjusted; therefore, the downturn, with nearly all construction sectors showing job losses for the month, cannot be attributed to the industry’s usual fall and winter slowdown. Economists worry about the employment impact of the waning federal construction funding from the 2009 stimulus act, which
The recession has put downward pressure on costs, but the steepest declines have been recorded in western states, according to Phoenix-based cost consultant Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), which compiles cost indexes for 13 cities nationwide. The steepest decline recorded by RLB was for Seattle construction costs, which have fallen 5% during the five quarters between the end of 2009 and the end of 2010. During the same period, the RLB cost index declined 3.6% in Phoenix, 1.5% in Portland, Ore., and 1.2% in Las Vegas. Declines have been moderating. In 2010’s fourth quarter, cost slipped in four western cities as
Slide Show New construction starts fell 9% in November from the previous month, according to McGraw-Hill Construction’s seasonally adjusted data. Non-residential building markets weakened for the second consecutive month, while non-building work retreated from last October’s gains. “The pullback in November shows that the up-and-down pattern continues, and there’s yet to be evidence that renewed expansion is taking hold,” says Robert Murray, MHC chief economist. “The worst of the decline for the commercial structure types is over, but activity remains very weak.” The educational sector of the nonresidential building market plunged 23% in November, despite the addition of a $500-million
The number of industry acquisitions in 2010 rose 5% as of Dec. 23, according to a year-end report by Morrissey-Goodale, a management consulting and research firm in Newton, Mass. It reports a total of 242 deals, up from 229 during the same time in 2009. Company principal Mick Morrissey says the upward trend will continue in 2011, driven in part by newly enacted tax-law changes. But he adds, “Shifts in how owners purchase services, how owners allocate risks and a lack of demand for stock in privately held firms will be the bigger drivers.” Among the firms announcing acquisitions on
Global engineering and construction firms are optimistic about market and bottom line improvements in 2011, but they are being realistic about remaining obstacles in the way of profitable growth, says the latest annual survey of 140 CEOs and other top executives by Swiss-based financial and business consultant KPMG International. + Image + Image The survey, titled “Adapting to an Uncertain Environment” and released late last year, reports that nearly half the respondents say company backlogs will rise next year—driven by either pent-up owner and consumer demand, expansion into new market sectors such as power or moves into new geographies such
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