National Construction Spending Reaches Cyclical Highs in Q3 2016

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CHICAGO, Ill. – According to JLL’s latest report on United States construction activity, construction spending in 2016 has continued to hit cyclical highs, reaching $317 billion in the third quarter, a one percent growth increase year-over-year. While this may be the highest point this cycle, compared to past third quarter growth averages of 7-10 percent year-over-year, the small increase could indicate an impending slowdown. A robust construction pipeline combined with rising building and materials costs and a shrinking labor pool could explain the lackluster growth. Materials costs have reached a 2.2 percent growth rate year-over-year, a five-year high, largely due […]

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CPWR Offers New Online Safety Climate Assessment Tool

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When a company’s management and workers alike believe that safety is valued, recognized and rewarded, that means it has a positive safety climate. Thousands of construction contractors and others in the industry have already used CPWR’s safety climate workbook to review and improve their company’s safety climate across eight leading indicators. Now CPWR has a new S-CAT website that companies can use to learn more about safety climate and complete a Safety Climate Assessment Tool to measure their safety climate maturity in more detail. Visitors to the website learn about safety climate and then can answer the S-CAT questions for […]

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Renovations Complete on Baylor University’s Hankamer Cashion Complex

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HOUSTON, Texas – Linbeck Group has recently completed the 164,000-square-foot renovation of the Hankamer Cashion Complex at Baylor University in Houston, Texas. It is Linbeck’s third project on the Baylor Campus. The $26-million Baylor University Hankamer Cashion project is comprised of the former Hankamer School of Business, a three-story building originally built in 1960 and Cashion Academic Center, five stories that were built the in late 1980s. Linbeck addressed a variety of existing floor elevation changes inherent in the Hankamer Cashion Complex, as well as the installation of a complete fire sprinkler system and updated ADA-compliant elevator systems. With many […]

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Dodge Momentum Index Inches Up in November

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NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Dodge Momentum Index moved 0.3 percent higher in November to 133.2 from its revised October reading of 132.7 (2000=100). The index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. The overall index has now posted increases in 10 of the last 12 months, and stands 18 percent higher than its November 2015 reading. This suggests that construction activity should continue to strengthen in 2017. The uptick for the index in November was due to […]

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Construction Input Prices Remain Flat in October, ABC Says

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Construction input prices remained unchanged in October and are just 0.5 percent above where they were a year ago, according to analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index released by Associated Builders and Contractors. Despite the modest increase in the aggregate input price level, the most recent report represents the largest year-over-year price increase since November 2014. Generally, construction input prices, particularly natural gas and crude petroleum, have headed lower since the summer of 2014. However, that pattern of falling prices no longer holds. Crude petroleum prices were up 10.5 percent on a […]

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