6 must reads for the AEC industry today: August 19, 2020

1. Nonres construction industry won’t start growing again until next year’s third quarter (BD+C) 
"This report includes a section that specifically evaluates the impact of the pandemic on construction. JLL found that 93% of ongoing construction work had been in jurisdictions with stay-at-home orders that covered most of the U.S. population and jobsites."

2. July architectural billings remained stalled (AIA) 
"The pace of decline during July remained at about the same level as in June with both months posting an ABI score of 40.0 (any score below 50 indicates a decline in firm billings). While firms reported a modest decline for inquiries into new projects—slipping from 49.3 in June to 49.1 in July— newly signed design contracts declined more critically, falling from a June level of 44.0 to 41.7 in July."

3. Florida becomes the third state to adopt concrete repair code (BD+C) 
"ACI 562-19 Code Requirements for the Assessment, Repair and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures will be effective Dec. 31, 2020, when the seventh edition of the Florida Building Code becomes law."

4. Starting a design firm (LOA podcast) 
"In today’s episode, we are talking about starting your own design firm—something that I think every architect walking the planet has thought about at various times throughout their career."

5. Demand for hotels is flattening as hotel owners burn through millions in cash reserves (Bisnow)
"Major U.S. hotel companies lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the spring as they gradually reopened hotels this summer to low demand, and their leaders expect there could be a long road back to profitability."

6. New York’s true nursing home death toll cloaked in secrecy (Associated Press)
“New York’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes, already among the highest in the nation, could actually be a significant undercount. Unlike every other state with major outbreaks, New York only counts residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.”