Associated Builders and Contractors' Construction Backlog Indicator declined to 9.2 months in August, down 0.1 month, according to an ABC member survey conducted from Aug. 21 to Sept. 6. The reading is 0.5 months above the August 2022 level.
Backlog decreased on a monthly basis for all categories of company size except for those with more than $100 million in annual revenues, while only the smallest two revenue categories have higher backlog than in August 2022.
ABC’s Construction Confidence Index reading for sales, profit margins and staffing levels moved higher in August. All three readings remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations of growth over the next six months.
“There’s no sign of a construction recession in the near term,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “If anything, contractors are more upbeat, as policy and technology shifts along with economic transformation, are creating substantial demand for improvements and growth in America’s built environment.
“While a plurality of contractors expects only small improvements in sales, profit margins and staffing over the next six months, even incremental improvement is remarkable in the context of tightening credit, higher project financing costs and lingering fears of recession,” said Basu. “Backlog continues to be at the upper end of historic levels, with the infrastructure category registering substantial gains in backlog in August. That suggests that a growing number of public works projects is poised to break ground.”
Related Stories
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 22, 2014
Herzog & de Meuron unveil curvy concrete condo in Manhattan
Herzog & de Meuron have released renderings of their new $250 million New York building, a 12-story condominium with 88 luxury apartments.
| Jul 21, 2014
Designing the process of leadership transition
Transition planning can be one of the more complex challenges that firms face. Effective plans begin by determining the gap between a firm’s current state and the future it envisions for itself. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 21, 2014
16 utility questions to answer during your building project
We need electricity to power our building projects, along with water and gas and a faultless sanitation system. That’s what we think about when we think about utility requirements for our building project, but are we missing something? SPONSORED CONTENT
| Jul 21, 2014
Commercial real estate development growing at strongest pace since recovery began: NAIOP report
Industrial, warehousing, office, and retail sectors see strong gains; Texas leads the nation in construction-value stats.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 21, 2014
Workplace trends survey reveals generational patterns in office use
Data analysis from Mancini•Duffy indicates significant variations among age cohorts in the workplace.
| Jul 21, 2014
Schindler Elevator Corp.'s new manufacturing facility receives LEED Green Excellence Award
Pennsylvania plant is the first LEED Gold certified elevator manufacturing facility in North America.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.