Published July 14, 2023
Best Bets in Construction Tech
According to a survey of construction executives, the technologies with potential to deliver the best return on investment are:
- Integrated Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) software
- Building Information Modeling software (BIM)
- Advanced data analytics
- Drones
- Smart sensors
- Mobile platforms/apps
- Artificial intelligence
- Robotics
Source: KPMG 2021 Global Construction Survey
Good Help is Still Hard to Find
If you’re having trouble finding workers, here’s the big picture: The construction industry averaged 390,000 job openings per month in 2022, with its second-lowest unemployment rate ever—4.6%. Expected growth in large projects is more than offsetting a post-pandemic slowdown in housing starts. And older workers are retiring faster than they can be replaced. The upshot? Your labor troubles aren’t over yet.
Source: Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)
But There’s No Shortage of Projects
Total spending on building construction reached $1.6 trillion in 2020 and is expected to exceed $2 trillion a year by 2026. The last time construction spending didn’t increase from one year to the next was a four-year period around the Great Recession—bottoming out at $788 billion in 2011, down 31.6 percent from 2007.
Source: Statista and U.S. government data
A Billion Here, a Billion There
One more interesting point from ABC: Every $1 billion in construction spending creates demand for another 3,620 workers.
Pricey Digs
The most expensive building ever constructed in the United States is SoFi Stadium, home to the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Chargers—completed in 2020 at an inflation-adjusted cost of $5.94 billion. The most expensive office building is the Apple headquarters in Silicon Valley, finished in 2017 at an inflation-adjusted cost of $5.72 billion.
Both will be dwarfed by the $30 billion cost for the already operational Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia when it’s completed by the end of this year.
Source: Wikipedia
Big Digs
Chicago is home to three of the largest office buildings in the United States: Willis Tower, topped out in 1972 with 4.5 million sq. ft.; the Merchandise Mart, 1930, 4 million sq. ft.; and Aon Center, 1973, 3.6 million sq. ft. Only the Pentagon (1943, 6.5 million sq. ft.) and Chrysler Headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan (1996, 5.3 million sq. ft.) are larger. New York’s biggest building, One World Trade Center (2013 , 3.5 million sq. ft.), just misses the top five.
Source: Wikipedia
Big Diggers
Speaking of big business, the nation’s largest construction companies are 1) The Turner Corp. (2022 revenue of $14.3 billion, 10,000+ employees); 2) Bechtel ($12.9 billion, 55,000 employees); 3) Kiewit Corp. ($10.7 billion, 28,000 employees); 4) STO Building Group Inc. ($9.5 billion, 4,500 employees); and 5) Fluor ($8.8 billion, 40,000 employees).
Source: Levelset
The 80/20 Rule Revisited
Eighty percent of the nearly 3 million U.S. construction businesses are sole proprietorships or small corporations that have no employees, and they account for 8.5% of construction by dollar value. The remaining 20% – companies with payrolls – account for 91.5% of construction by dollar value.
Source: CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training
It Ain’t Easy Being Green
Greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings are generally lower than those of old buildings. But the materials used in new construction are often more environmentally taxing—meaning that a new building with advanced energy saving systems could have a higher lifetime carbon footprint than an old building that has fewer “embodied emissions.”
Source: Real Estate Weekly
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