In its first-quarter index of Construction Confidence, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) found that 55% of contractors expected their sales to increase over the following six months, and only 19% thought their sales would decline in that period.
They might need to recalibrate their exuberance, in light of the trade group’s latest analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, which ABC released today. It estimates that national nonresidential construction spending in May, at $784.5 billion, was down 7.1% from the same month a year ago, and off 0.7% from spending levels in April 2021.
On a year-over-year basis, spending for every nonresidential category that ABC tracks, except sewage and waste disposal, was negative. Spending on public safety projects—which surged during the early months of the pandemic—showed the greatest decline in May, 39.6%, and lodging also took a big hit (off 23.3% to $22.6 billion). On the other hand, spending in May on healthcare construction, nearly $47 billion, was down only marginally, by 1.5%, compared to the same month a year ago.
WORKER SHORTAGES AND MATERIAL PRICING REMAIN PROJECT ROADBLOCKS
Construction spending for public safety and lodging projects showed the steepest declines in May compared to the same month a year ago.
A red-hot data center market hasn’t spelled more office construction, notes Anirban Basu, ABC’s Chief Economist. Basu also points out that while some private construction segments are struggling under the dislocating impacts of the pandemic, public nonresidential construction actually has declined more rapidly than the private sector over the past year.
Basu sees some hope for the future. Public construction spending should benefit from improvements in state and local governments’ financial conditions. But he tempers his predictions because of still-high construction materials prices and “deeply problematic” worker shortages. Basu expressed some concern, too, about the disproportionate amount of spending moving toward residential construction, which accounted for 41% of the pre-pandemic total and 49% in May.
Related Stories
| Nov 16, 2010
Where can your firm beat the recession? Try any of these 10 places
Wondering where condos and rental apartments will be needed? Where companies are looking to rent office space? Where people will need hotel rooms, retail stores, and restaurants? Newsweek compiled a list of the 10 American cities best situated for economic recovery. The cities fall into three basic groups: Texas, the New Silicon Valleys, and the Heartland Honeys. Welcome to the recovery.
| Nov 16, 2010
Landscape architecture challenges Andrés Duany’s Congress for New Urbanism
Andrés Duany, founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, adopted the ideas, vision, and values of the early 20th Century landscape architects/planners John Nolen and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., to launch a movement that led to more than 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization project commissions for his firm. However, now that there’s a societal buyer’s remorse about New Urbanism, Duany is coming up against a movement that sees landscape architecture—not architecture—as the design medium more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience.
| Nov 16, 2010
NFRC approves technical procedures for attachment product ratings
The NFRC Board of Directors has approved technical procedures for the development of U-factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible transmittance (VT) ratings for co-planar interior and exterior attachment products. The new procedures, approved by unanimous voice vote last week at NFRC’s Fall Membership Meeting in San Francisco, will add co-planar attachments such as blinds and shades to the group’s existing portfolio of windows, doors, skylights, curtain walls, and window film.
| Nov 15, 2010
Gilbane to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc.
Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Company announced plans to acquire W.G. Mills, Inc., a construction management firm with operations based in Florida. The acquisition will dramatically strengthen Gilbane’s position in Florida’s growing market and complement its already established presence in the southeast.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable “dynamic glass” an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
| Nov 11, 2010
Saint-Gobain to make $80 million investment in SAGE Electrochromics
Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest glass and construction material manufacturers, is making a strategic equity investment in SAGE Electrochromics to make electronically tintable “dynamic glass” an affordable, mass-market product, ushering in a new era of energy-saving buildings.
| Nov 11, 2010
USGBC certifies more than 1 billion square feet of commercial space
This month, the total footprint of commercial projects certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System surpassed one billion square feet. Another six billion square feet of projects are registered and currently working toward LEED certification around the world. Since 2000, more than 36,000 commercial projects and 38,000 single-family homes have participated in LEED.
| Nov 10, 2010
$700 million plan to restore the National Mall
The National Mall—known as America’s front yard—is being targeted for a massive rehab and restoration that could cost as much as $700 million (it’s estimated that the Mall has $400 million in deferred maintenance alone). A few of the proposed projects: refurbishing the Grant Memorial, replacing the Capitol Reflecting Pool with a smaller pool or fountain, reconstructing the Constitution Gardens lake and constructing a multipurpose visitor center, and replacing the Sylvan Theater near the Washington Monument with a new multipurpose facility.
