Investment Monitor cited new April 2022 figures from GlobalData, which indicate that the North American market is far healthier than many other regions of the world—at least in most construction sectors.

February was a tough act to follow - total construction starts fell 12%.

It's a perfect storm: high demand crashing with supply-chain and logistical delays. Add in low interest rates which increase the volume, and you're either going to be patient or pay higher interest rates.

A report from the University of Berkley Labor Center, researching Michigan's construction industry, found that one in three workers receives public assistance, including Medicaid, cash payments, food stamps, or earned income tax credits.

Residential and commercial builders struggle with obstacles that can delay deadlines and blow budgets. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, five main problems stand in new property owners' way before builders can hand over the keys:

With over 5,000 Seattle residents waiting for affordable housing, an ongoing strike continues to delay the construction of up to 1,800 low-income units.

With costs rising and delays impending, construction site thefts become more commonplace. A Virginian contractor, when viewing security footage, witnessed a white pickup truck pulling up to his job site in broad daylight. Thieves loaded more than 200 2x4s into the bed. They also drove to the backside of the building and stole several panels of OSB.

The nation currently faces record-high gas prices; some construction companies feel the pain a little worse than others. For example, in El Cajon, CA, diamond Roofing faces prices above $6.00 a gallon.

The supply chain problems that arose after COVID remain. Erin Roberts from Ernst & Young's global construction and engineering practice, says: "With prices as high as 50% more than they were pre-pandemic, it's hard to find the materials you're looking for, which is leading contractors to hoard what they can find, building temporary warehouses where they can store materials. With suppliers, cash rules all, and credit is scarce.

A Friday newsletter from the Associated General Contractors of America claims that Russia's conflict with Ukraine will likely drive up the prices of fuel, copper, and aluminum. The war also could further impact global shipping and supply chains.

Despite the recent growth of construction jobs, a labor shortage remains, especially with small contractors and businesses. In September, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that 51% of small business owners couldn't fill job openings, more than double the 22% historical average.

The February jobs report surpassed expectations by revealing a 60,000 increase in the construction workforce; this represents 99% of pre-pandemic jobs.

Businesses continue to use spreadsheets as practical tools. Most agree that Excel offers a robust solution. But an article this week in Construction Dive poses that too many spreadsheets and not enough automation cause difficulty for construction project managers. In addition, project managers do more business these days on smartphones and tablets. Excel doesn't offer the simplicity needed in this business environment.

US homebuilders started the season at a seasonally-adjusted 1.64 million in January, down 4% from the previous month, the US Census Board reported last week. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a median pace of 1.69 housing starts and for building permits to come in at 1.75 million.

The labor shortage remains a thorn in the side of construction companies. Forbes reports that construction experiences more impact due to this issue than any other sector, including hospitality and tourism.

Despite being one of the largest sectors of the global economy, the construction industry is notoriously slow to adopt new technologies; this leads to shortfalls in productivity. According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, "Reinventing Construction: A route to higher productivity," labor productivity across all sectors has grown by 2.8% in the last 20 years, but construction productivity has only increased by 1%.

Cybercrime attacks affect more and more companies. The numbers indicate fear expressed by significant corporations. Statista forecasts a $354 billion growth in the cyber security market by 2026. Researchers conclude that the construction, energy, and engineering spaces lie in the crosshairs.

For decades, strict laws have governed dangerous waste handling, including lead-based paint and asbestos. EPA guidelines leave no room for speculation regarding contractor disclosure and mitigation of hazardous materials.

Lumber prices--in constant flux--rose, fell, and rose again. New analysis shows that high prices don't present the danger so much as market volatility. The cost of lumber fluctuates more than it has since overseers kept records at the end of World War II.

This week the Maui County Council voted to overturn Mayor Mike Victorino’s veto of a bill that would halt all new hotel construction for the next two years. Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who introduced the bill, said that this isn’t intended to stop tourists from coming to the island; they only want to give the county more time to figure out how to accommodate the increasing number of tourists, as well as find more available low-income housing for Maui residents.

The National Home Builders Association says increasing prices could cause the average new single-family home to increase by $18,600. Lumber prices hit record highs in May of 2021. During a brief price drop, the construction industry hoped to return to pre-pandemic numbers; unfortunately, costs snapped back up.

According to the Commerce Department on January 3rd, Spending on construction projects rose 0.4% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.63 trillion, less than the Wall Street Journal’s prediction of a 0.7% increase.

On December 15th, Japan's Prime Minister admitted overstatements by the government regarding the value of some construction orders; this struck a blow to investors and economists' confidence in the country's official statistics.

Census data from last week shows a 12% jump in housing starts in November over October; this occurred amid construction industry struggles such as the labor and materials shortage and all-time highs in construction costs.

Waco, Texas builders feel the heat of post-pandemic materials and labor price hikes. But perhaps no job site feels the pain more than the Cameron Park Zoo, a non-profit that relies on fundraising to expand. The zoo began construction with financing in place—prices spun out of control.

Across the United States, in the wake of materials shortages, thieves have been ransacking job sites. They don’t just steal power tools; they take lumber, fixtures, and steel.

According to research from NordLocker, ransomware targets construction companies hardest out of 35 different industries. This information comes from an analysis of 1,200 global companies targeted by ransomware between 2020 and 2021.

Flexbase, a construction technology company, plans to offer something new: a particular credit card for the construction industry. The card provides up to 60 days of interest-free financing.

A northern Nevada rancher plans to block construction of the United States’ largest lithium mine with a lawsuit; he alleges a conflict of interest on the part of the project’s chief consultant that downplays potential harm to water resources and wildlife.

With low mortgage rates, plentiful jobs, and the market’s desire for more space, the housing boom in the United States stands at record levels. Last week the National Association of Home Builders announced a 7% jump from August; such levels haven’t existed since the housing boom in 2007.

Despite supply chain slowdowns and rising housing costs, builder confidence rose 4 points in the last month to 80 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. Though down from 85 in October 2020 and down from the record high of 90 in November, analysts consider anything above 50 to be positive.

Whether in board meetings or on job sites, construction employees at all levels express concern regarding the unprecedented hikes in building costs.

The Colombo crime family targeted a construction union in Queens (the union remains unnamed in the unsealed court paper). Mobsters demanded monthly payments from the union’s health fund. Andrew Russo made the list of defendants. He acted as the alleged boss of the family, accused of taking $10,000 a month from the union fund.

Amid a construction community atmosphere already stretched to breaking by labor shortages, a Seattle carpenters union takes an unexpected path by voting to go on strike. The results: 56% for, 44% against striking.

Amid declining prices of some building materials, such as lumber, since their early 2021 peaks, other materials costs remain at record highs. Steel, paint, fixtures, and appliances top the list. As a result, economists believe exorbitant prices will persist.

In a complaint filed last week, the condo board of 432 Park Avenue says that more than 1,500 construction errors, some deemed to be “life safety issues,” riddle their 96-story building. The building once stood as a media darling with celebrity tenants such as Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez.

The construction industry needs new blood; labor shortages exist everywhere, and methods of attracting new hires increase in complexity.

Despite a tough eighteen months for the construction industry, residential construction proceeds at a break-neck pace. But increased costs and uncertain build schedules increase the difficulty of home construction. Construction spending sits 8.2% higher than one year ago.

Last week, Hyundai Heavy Industries purchased Doosan Infracore, creating a combined company in the top ten largest global construction equipment manufacturers. The plan makes Doosan Infracore a subsidiary of Hyundai Genuine group, of which Hyundai Construction Equipment is also a subsidiary.

According to new data released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on August 12, nonresidential construction prices have increased 23.4% since this time last year, including a 0.8% increase over last month.

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed in the Senate last week includes an investment in construction technology of $100 million spread over five years. The government intends to focus the funds on digital construction technologies such as BIM, 3D modeling software, and digital project management.

The Commerce Department released a report on August 2nd indicating that construction spending inched up a slight 0.1% in June; this was a tradeoff as private projects increased and public sector construction projects dropped.

According to the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) report in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the national construction unemployment rate dropped 2.6% in June compared to the same month last year. Forty-five states experienced decreases, though the rates have not rebounded back to pre-pandemic levels.

Based in Oakland, CA, the construction technology company Mighty Buildings raised $22 million last month, increasing its total funding to more than $100 million as it goes after the sustainable construction market. Mighty Buildings pursues a goal of creating net-zero carbon emission homes by 2028.

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) released its report for May 2021, showing that the demand for architectural services is at a record high. The ABI measures demand through tracking signed contracts. It hit 58.5 in May, up from 57.9 in April. (Anything above 50 indicates an increase over the previous month. Anything lower than 50 marks a decrease.)

According to a new report from Associated Builders and Contractors, the construction industry—already short on workers before the pandemic—needs to hire 430,000 more laborers in 2021 for a total of 1,000,000before the end of 2022.

Dropping to the lowest price they've been since January, lumber fell 4% on Friday to $689 per thousand board feet; this represents a dramatic drop over the last nine weeks after the prices topped out at $1670 on May 7th.

Habitat for Humanity, the charity organization that builds homes for the disadvantaged, faces financial trials. The first blow came from the virus; safety precautions severely reduced the number of volunteers they could have onsite. The second came from the lack of revenue from closed ReStores, a chain of reuse stores Habitat for Humanity runs to partially fund their projects. The third blow came from supply chain issues—the same issues faced by all residential contractors.

After the federal government passed a bipartisan deal for $973 billion in infrastructure spending last Thursday, the S&P 500 posted its best week since April, closing out Friday at new record highs. Shares of construction giants Caterpillar, Martin Marietta Materials, and Vulcan Materials traded higher on the news.

Contractors know about massive price jumps in materials. Still, a new report from the federal government shows that non-residential construction input prices rose 23.9% in May over May of 2020, and the prices rose 4.8% since April.

A new report from the National Association of Realtors revealed a slowdown in construction over the past twenty years—primarily due to focus on single-family homes rather than multi-family houses. The result: a 5.5-million-unit shortfall.

Like the United States post-pandemic recovery plan, the European Union passed an €800 billion program to speed the continent's recovery. But now, construction executives and organizations warn that a rapid rise in construction costs may cause a significant speed bump in that plan and may stop the recovery altogether.

The economy added 559,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate fell from 6.1% to 5.8%. However, despite the job gains and a massive labor shortage that has plagued construction, the industry lost a net 20,000 jobs; this comes after an April with no increase in construction jobs.

The exploding residential market continues to skyrocket, rising as quickly as manpower and material supplies can accommodate. And yet, new national data from the first quarter of 2021 shows that existing homes sell for higher prices than new construction.

Due to high demand, of all industries, construction perhaps most seamlessly weathered COVID-19. Hence, construction workers enjoy premium pay. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts construction employment adding 4% year-on-year from now through 2029, compared to a national job average of 3.7%. The BLS expects to see the most growth in solar photovoltaic installers (up 50.5%), tile and stone workers (up 8.6%), and electricians (up 8.4%).

With single-family home starts down 13% in April, compared to March, many potential homeowners wonder why a slowdown persists during a period of high demand. The answer: lack of workers and scarcity of building materials.

A recent consensus from the American Institute of Architects predicted an 11% decrease in office construction. Tech-driven cities such as Manhattan, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area drive the growth. Builders constructed 25 million square feet of office space in the first two months of 2021, with more coming.

While great economic times foster magnificent architecture—society builds few massive edifices during food shortages—two rising theories posit that booms in architecture could indicate a coming economic bust. More than that, one such theory blames architecture itself for the downturn.

The Dodge Momentum Index, a monthly measurement of nonresidential building projects in planning, jumped 8.6% last month, climbing to 162.4 over 149.5 in March; this happened despite hitting its nine-year low in January; the index grew 77% over the previous three months. Healthcare and laboratory projects lead the index, while commercial projects have slipped with fewer warehouses in production. Overall, the index sits 31% higher than in April of last year.

According to data from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), spending declined in 11 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending fell 0.9%, while public nonresidential dropped 1.5% in March.

Despite the massive worker shortage plaguing construction, new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that homebuilders have slowed their hiring pace. The trend moves upward at a crawling pace.

With a season of extreme shortages in new home availability, promising signs of increased production might catch up with demand.

Curri, a new company referred to as the “Uber of Construction,” gains investors as it seeks to disrupt a stagnant distribution model.

Nobody in the construction industry sees the material shortage as new news; lumber has climbed more than 300% since March of 2020. According to a survey from the Associated Building Contractors, lack of materials competes for top concern among contractors, alongside the labor shortage.

Autodesk published its 2021 Construction Outlook, which analyzes the current construction situation and forecasts the upcoming year. In an interview with Forbes, Autodesk Senior VP and General Manager, Jim Lynch, gave an optimistic assessment: “The big takeaway is that the market is back.”

U.S. housing construction grew at the fastest pace since 2006 in March as builders recovered from the February weather-related slowdowns. Builders began construction on new homes at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.74 million units in March, up 19.4% over February when building fell 11%. As the fastest boom in growth since the 2006 housing craze, some economists are pleased while others are wary.

Despite the blockbuster residential market, as a post-vaccination country re-opens for business as usual, construction industry problems remain. Two issues hang over the construction industry's head: material and supply chain and labor shortages.

The unemployment rate dropped to 6%, adding 916,000 jobs to the economy. The construction industry, with 110,000 new jobs, represented a significant portion of the employment growth.

The massive boom in residential construction remains in the news, even with a slowdown at the beginning of 2021. Most anticipate the market to stay strong throughout the remaining year.

This week in Texas, a federal grand jury returned an indictment on Michael Angelo Padron with one conspiracy charge to commit wire fraud and eight counts of wire fraud, along with two co-conspirators. According to the charges, Padron placed a service-disabled veteran, Ruben Villareal (one of the co-conspirators), as frontman at his construction company to acquire Small Business Association contracts reserved for veteran-owned businesses.

The residential housing market, which has boomed for the last year, dropped 10.3% in February, a significant fall. Applications for new homes also fell by 10.8%.

2021 looks to be a challenging year for construction, reports Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a worldwide real estate conglomerate. JLL predicts a 5% to 8% drop in overall nonresidential construction.

The IRS convicted Hugo Cruz-Medina, a 33-year-old from Jacksonville, Fl., of several counts of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and illegally entering the country after being deported. He received a three-to-five-year sentence in federal prison and orders to pay his victims $3,266,506.33 in restitution, as well as a punitive amount of $1,408,712.08, which were the proceeds of his mail and wire fraud.

The Australian construction company Lendlease reported last week that its operating profit had fallen 26% from the same period in 2019, from AU $278 million (U.S. $219 million) to AU$205 million ($162 million.) It also cut its dividend by 50%.

Fortune magazine has published its annual ranking of most admired companies in all sectors, including construction and engineering. The category leader was AECOM, followed by Jacobs, Quanta Services, MasTec, and KBR.

The Associated General Contractors of America's "2021 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook" report uncovers a significant post-pandemic slowdown. The information also doesn't predict a return to typical construction in 2021.

According to the RLB Comparative Costs Index report, the boomtime residential market has driven up 2020 construction costs despite the pandemic slowdown in the first half of the year.

Autodesk, the maker of Revit and AutoCAD, has acquired Spacemaker, an artificial intelligence-based software company to increase automation opportunities for its portfolio.

2020 saw 106 new skyscrapers (buildings that stand over 200 meters in height) compared to 133 in 2019. This structural decline takes its place as the lowest since 2014.

Residential construction saw a 5.8% increase in home starts in December over the previous month, putting the seasonally adjusted annual rate at 1.67 million homes. Compared with 2019, home starts were up 17%, the highest level since 2006, before the burst of housing bubble.

In recent years, mining has seen a huge surge in success. 2020 represented a banner year for domestic mining (not just in ore but also in aggregates and quarries).

According to PRNewswire, a new report, “Construction in China – Key Trends and Opportunities to 2024” shows massive construction undertakings in the country in the first half of the decade. This occurs amid slowdowns in United States construction due to material shortages.

Following the Carbon Free Boston report in 2019, city officials are making carbon-neutral plans by 2050. Emissions from buildings account for more than 70% of the city’s emissions, Boston feels it’s time to clear the air.

Last month saw a drop in 140,000 jobs, attributable to increases in COVID cases and efforts to contain the pandemic, said a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, there was good news for construction: the industry's jobs grew 51,000 in December.

The Q4 2020 numbers were released from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index and reported that the number of material shortages was growing at an alarming rate, primarily due to the pandemic.

After a record 6,100,000 new jobs added to the US economy in October, November saw a massive plunge, gaining only 245,000 jobs, which is the slowest month’s gain in six months.

Despite the reopening of the economy in most areas and the lowered death tolls in most regions, there are some effects of Covid-19 that are likely going to last into 2021 for the construction industry.

Between 2020 and 2030, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that about 60 percent of new jobs in the economy will be in occupations that don’t typically require an associate’s, bachelor’s, or graduate degree.

New York, a market that can be counted on to do sizeable multi-billion dollar deals every season, reports that they’re facing a significant downturn in mostly non-residential construction.

US industrial construction is having a good year, all things considered. A report from the consulting group of Cushman and Wakefield shows that the industrial market has produced a total of 159 million square feet in the last three consecutive quarters. The third quarter made 61 million alone, which is 16% higher than in the same quarter in 2019.

According to a new report in the New York Times Thursday, residential construction rose 2.1% from July to August, while non-residential—which was already suffering—dropped another 4%. The one exception to this is distribution centers, which continue to be on the way up.

A study from McKinsey reported that a large majority of projects miss their deadlines by 40% or more, which causes all sorts of headaches—most of them financial. Some of the most common reasons for construction mistakes are:

According to Dodge Data and Analytics, nonresidential construction starts fell by 19% in the first five months of the year. In places where lockdowns were mandated, including construction jobs, work levels dropped as much as 80%. The Dodge study indicated that the delays were due to labor shortage, new safety procedures, and lack of materials and equipment due to transportation disruptions.

Core, a new app and online site, is designed to connect construction laborers with contractors and builders in need of workers. It has gotten the eye of several influential Silicon Valley investors.

Despite the many issues that are plaguing 2020, the Marcum Commercial Construction Index for the second quarter reports that the industry is maintaining a relatively even keel. In particular, unemployment in the construction industry has dropped back down to 8.9% after seeing record highs in April and March. The unemployment rate across all sectors is at 10.2%.

A new survey from Dodge Data and Analytics shows ten cities that saw the biggest hit from the coronavirus shutdown, in terms of new construction.

According to the most recent report from Dodge Data and Analytics, total construction starts for July fell 7%. This sharp drop was led primarily by a 31% dip in the non-building segment. (Nonbuilding consists of industrial, roads, public works, etc.) Nonresidential starts rose 3% and residential dropped 2%.

In a campaign organized by the European Architect’s Journal and backed by 14 Sterling Prize winners, a new push is being made to get businesses to renovate existing buildings rather than tear them down and rebuild—to fight climate change.

The architecture industry, which has long been looked at as a predictor of what the future holds, not just for construction but for the economy at large, is making some exciting moves as it recovers from Covid-19.

A new report out from Moody’s Analytics does not paint a rosy picture for the immediate future of America’s real estate and construction sectors. In a year that was supposed to have been record-breaking, real estate projects are estimated to move forward again at a pace that is slower than the recovery after the Great Recession.