November Construction Starts Jump 13% for the Month At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $677.8 billion, new construction starts in November climbed 13% from the previous month, says Dodge Data & Analytics. On a year-to-date basis, total construction starts in the first 11 months of 2014 rose 7% from 2013's total. Most of the gain came from the non-residential building market, which increased 17%. Residential construction rose 7%, while non-building work was down 4% for the year.Ex-Louis Berger CEO Pleads Guilty to US Overbilling Charges Derish Wolff, 79, former CEO of engineer Louis Berger, pleaded guilty on Dec. 12
Dodge Starts Slip 4% in October The value of new construction starts settled back 4% in October to a seasonally adjusted rate of $589.8 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The decline follows the 10% increase reported in September, which was the strongest month so far in 2014.During the first 10 months of the year, total construction starts, on an unadjusted basis, were $475.8 billion, up 5% from the same period a year ago. "Recent months have shown an up-and-down pattern for construction starts around what is still a rising trend," says Robert Murray, chief economist for DD&A. "Non-residential
A project to rescue a dilapidated, 178-year-old house on the edge of Washington, D.C.'s National Mall won a $1-million grant on Dec. 9 from American Express.The lockkeeper's house served a freight canal, located near where the Washington Monument is now. Canals formed an inland freight transportation system, which was eclipsed by railroads in the 1870s.Boarded up since the 1970s, the house will be moved back from the road and undergo extensive interior and exterior restoration.
Related Links: Stan Marek Says Obama's Order Will Help President Obama's executive order is an undesirable way to jump-start immigration reform, but it may help provoke Congress to make the badly needed legislative overhaul. Taking up to five million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows would accomplish a lot; however, an even greater good and more permanent reform could begin by picking up on the immigration bill S.774, as the president said in his nationally televised address. Although it never came to a vote in the House, the Senate bill is still the best place to start. Embedded in S.744
Market Momentum Increases The Dodge Momentum Index posted a monthly increase of 7.6% in October, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The October increase reverses three months of declines, leaving the index 18% above a year ago.The index's October rise was the result of greater planning activity for institutional building, which was up 8.8% for the month, and commercial building planning, which was up 6.8% for the month. Six commercial projects totaled more than $100 million.Feds To Auction More Acreage For Offshore Wind Development The Dept. of the Interior on Jan. 29, 2015, will conduct its largest competitive lease sale
Photo by Pat Cashin / MTA A Signature Station Debuts After 12 years of planning and construction, one of New York City's megaprojects is officially open. The Arup-led design features a 53-ft-dia glass oculus that rises 108 ft over an atrium and a stainless-steel "sky net." Measuring 144 ft x 140 ft at street level, the three-floor complex required nine construction contracts with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction division, with Parsons Brinckerhoff and Bovis Lend Lease LLC also managing.Chemical Maker Picks Illinois To Build $1.4B Fertilizer Plant Cronus Chemicals has selected a 235-acre site in Tuscola, Ill., over a
Related Links: Industry Protests Increased Single-Step Design-Build by the Corps (subscription required) House DOD Bill Includes Design-Build, Individual-Sureties Amendments Small business is the beating heart of the American economy, and when the Senate next gets down to business on Nov. 12, no matter which party is in control, it has a rare chance to help entrepreneurs who have contracts with the U.S. government or work under federal contracting rules.The House already has passed legislation sought by the construction industry that will make federal construction fairer, more cost-effective and less prone to fraud. Whether those measures make it into the Senate
Photo by Iwan Baan Related Links: Progress is Slow but Steady at World Trade Center Development Manhattan's 1,776-ft-tall One World Trade Center Officially OpensThe $3.9-billion One World Trade Center—the Western Hemisphere's tallest building, thanks to a 441-ft-tall spire—officially opened on Nov. 3, more than 13 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the original 110-story Twin Towers. The 104-story tower—designed by architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with structural engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk and mechanical engineer Jaros Baum & Bolles after an early collaboration with Studio Daniel Libeskind—has redundant and beefed-up structural and mechanical systems, and the air-supply
Enlarge FMI Data Business developers and field engineers gained the most, but bonuses were down. Related Links: Incentive Compensation: Money Well Spent? Link to FMI 2014 compensation analysis Demand for construction and engineering professionals in the post-recession era has pushed pay levels up 10% since 2008, says a new compensation survey by construction consultant FMI Corp. While pay rose for a number of jobs, firms' need for new business gave marketing managers the steepest hike."The industry is focusing on levers of growth and efficiency that were neglected in the past," says survey author and FMI consultant Mike Rose. He says
