Citizens of Fargo, N.D., and neighboring Moorhead, Minn., appear to have dodged another bullet, but only after an heroic, all-hands effort in late March in advance of floodwaters that ultimately surpassed a 1997 record flood. With little more than a week’s notice, an army of federal, state and local resources, along with sandbag-packing volunteers, built a maze of temporary dikes atop existing levees to withstand the onslaught of the rising Red River. Photo: U.S. Air Force Rapid erection of 38 miles of HESCO barriers helped raise levees in Fargo by 4 ft. At ENR press time, floodwaters in Fargo were

Over the last six months, the deepening recession its accompanying credit crisis have dramatically changed the construction industry’s cost picture. Construction inflation has gone from the double-digit realm just last summer to between 2% and 6% this quarter. Ten of the 14 major industry cost indexes collected by ENR for this report posted declines during the first quarter, ranging from 0.5% to 8.4%. Slide Show Photo: Michael Moore Related Links: Renegotiations Make Bad Times Worse Labor Deals with Uncertainties Finding Cost Data on the Internet What Drives ENR’s Cost Indexes How To Use ENR’s Cost Indexes View Complete Report with

The impact of a sudden shift from record high demand last summer to cancelled projects, depressed markets and falling materials and labor costs this spring has spurred a once-in-a-generation poker game of renegotiation on projects across the country. Related Links: Inflation Reverses Course As Recession Floors Prices Labor Deals with Uncertainties Finding Cost Data on the Internet What Drives ENR’s Cost Indexes How To Use ENR’s Cost Indexes View Complete Report with Data and Analysis While many in the industry are reluctant to discuss the trend for attribution, industry sources say the temptation for owners to renegotiate pricing is widespread.

With waves of bad news rolling in from Wall Street and Main Street, the Society of Marketing for Professional Services Foundation held a think tank to explore "The Upside of a Down Economy." Participants at the Feb. 20 conference in Atlanta found little in the way of an upside, but a panel of nine senior industry experts came away with a meaningful to-do list for firms hoping to cope—and even prosper—in an era of diminished opportunity. Photo: Matthew Finn Industry executives agreed stimulus package will have little impact on business. Related Links: View all economic stimulus headlines Top on that

After several years of unprecedented demand and annual double-digit increases, costs for basic construction materials in the Middle East hit a major market barrier this fall. Whether the correction is short-lived or continues through 2009 or even 2010 is an open question, according to analysts. (Click to Enlarge Image) Sources: Rider Levett Bucknall. Percent Change Is From Peak 2008 Price To November 2008. Prices Are For The U.A.E. Related Links: Credit Cancer Kills Prospects for Recession-Proof Global Economy Global Financial Crisis and Recession Is Knocking Down Inflation Worldwide Even Overheated Gulf Market Moves Into a Slump in a Changing Economy

P.A. Landers Inc., a Hanover, Mass., contractor, has agreed to pay the U.S. government $900,000 to settle a 2005 civil claim that firm officials submitted fake tickets inflating load weights for asphalt delivered to federal paving jobs from 1995 to 2003. U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan in Boston says the firm created fake paperwork by manually overriding computer controls on its Plymouth, Mass., asphalt plant. A state criminal jury in 2007 found the firm, former CEO Preston Landers and a manager guilty of similar charges. Landers was sentenced to 42 months in prison and fined $15,000. Firm officials could not be

The housing contagion is starting to infect healthy nonresidential-building and public-works markets. The sub-prime mortgage virus has devastated the credit markets, causing sickness in the stock market and forcing the federal government to put virtually the entire financial system on life support. Given the economic backdrop, it is hard to find a pulse in this year’s batch of construction industry forecasts for 2009. McGraw-Hill Construction (of which ENR is part) is forecasting a 7.4% decline in construction starts in 2009, following declines of 12.4% this year and 8.0% in 2007. The U.S. Dept. of Commerce forecasts a 7.5% decline in