Our colleagues at Construction Dive recently reported on the 10 Construction industry trends to watch in 2016. They reference a Dodge Analytics 2016 report that “predicted 6% growth, with the value of construction starts reaching an estimated $712 billion.” That is great news for the industry for 2016.
The Construction Industry usually gets a late start in the economic recovery and fortunately it has a “long tail” since it is hard to stop construction once the building has begun. We have a hunch that we are entering the long tail in commercial construction as many of the indicators show a slow down in the front or design end of the business.
Construction Dive offers up the major trends to watch for 2016. Top on the list is a continued labor shortage of skilled workers. This has been widely reported and is the result of workers leaving the industry in the 2009 recession, retirements and a high demand in the industrial sector.
Second on the list is the expanded use of pre-fab/off-site Construction. This method will become more prevalent in the healthcare industry as technology further impacts an expanding area of the industry.
Third, one trend that we are seeing with our companies, is that construction companies will be more cautious about project selection. As the result of high demand and a growing labor shortage, many companies are forced to become more selective, and they are more likely to say no to bidding a job that they cannot staff or ones where they cannot meet the staffing schedules.
Those are the top three trends and ones that we expected. Also listed is one that states jobsite accidents and criminal indictments are on the rise. We have reported on this subject in light of the use of unqualified workers, slack safety standards, and the misclassification of construction workers as independent contractors. The rise in lawsuits will result in more accidents involving untrained workers and stricter OSHA rules and monitoring of jobsites. The big issues will likely arise in who has liability and who pays. This will also tie to the “joint-employer status” regulations and lawsuits on the dockets across the country today.
There are several other interesting trends that Construction Dive urges you to pay attention to this year. You can read the article in its entirety here.
