Through the 2012 Owner Study, consultant FMI and the Construction Users Roundtable set out to understand how large capital program owners are coping with the current environment, as well as what challenges they believe the future environment holds and how prepared they feel to face these challenges. In general, survey and interview questions fell into these broad areas:
-
Identification of future issues impacting capital programs and the degree of preparedness toward addressing those issues.?
-
Level of staffing changes during the past four years and anticipated staffing trends going forward.
- Degree of project disruptions affecting capital programs resulting from delays, cancellations and funding challenges.
- Continued evolution of project delivery systems and procurement methods.
Based on survey responses, it is clear that many capital program owners have already begun the process of identifying future challenges and mitigating the impact of those issues on their capital programs. Other owners, however, anticipate many of these challenges to have a significant effect on their capital programs and are not confident in their responses to date. The ability of these owners to maintain the objectives of their capital programs in the face of these challenges will depend on the actions they take to identify and address these issues. How capital program owners respond to both the current and future environment will significantly influence their ability to plan, design, procure and manage capital projects effectively. As their ability to engage in these activities changes, so too will the expectations of owners for their planning, design and construction partners.
Survey responses reflect the fact that economic recovery has yet to begin for many, especially in the engineering and construction industry. At its peak in 2006, the construction industry represented more than $1 trillion of economic activity, roughly 9% of nominal GDP. The industry has contracted every year since then. The burst of the housing bubble, the credit crisis and the ensuing recession reduced the industry to roughly 70% of its 2006 size in 2012, and to only 5% of nominal GDP. The dark cloud, however, is clearing. according to FMI forecasts, construction put-in-place voluimes in 2012 are expected to end the year 5% higher than in 2011.
For a free download: http://www.fminet.com/fmi-curt-survey-of-owners-2012.html
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Balfour Beatty agrees to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services group, has agreed to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million. Balfour Beatty executives believe the merger will be a major step forward in accomplishing a number of Balfour Beatty’s objectives, including establishing a global professional services business of scale, creating a leading position in U.S. civil infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector, and enhancing its global reach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction unemployment rises to 17.1% as another 64,000 construction workers are laid off in September
The national unemployment rate for the construction industry rose to 17.1 percent as another 64,000 construction workers lost their jobs in September, according to an analysis of new employment data released today. With 80 percent of layoffs occurring in nonresidential construction, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decline in nonresidential construction has eclipsed housing’s problems.
| Aug 11, 2010
Billings at U.S. architecture firms exceeds $40 billion annually
In the three-year period leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. This equates to 54 percent growth over the three-year period with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics.
| Aug 11, 2010
CHPS debuts high-performance building products database
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) made a new tool available to product manufacturers to help customers identify building products that contribute to sustainable, healthy, built environments. The tool is an online, searchable database where manufacturers can list products that have met certain environmental or health standards ranging from recycled content to materials that contribute to improved indoor air quality.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green Building Initiative launches two certification programs for green building professionals
The Green Building Initiative® (GBI), one of the nation’s leading green building organizations and exclusive provider of the Green Globes green building certification in the United States, today announced the availability of two new personnel certification programs for green building practitioners: Green Globes Professional (GGP) and Green Globes Assessor (GGA).
| Aug 11, 2010
Potomac Valley Brick launches brick design competition with $10,000 grand prize
Potomac Valley Brick presents Brick-stainable: Re-Thinking Brick a design competition seeking integrative solutions for a building using clay masonry units (brick) as a primary material.
