
The backlog of waiting projects recorded by the nation’s construction industry stood at the 9.8-month mark last month, unchanged from where things stood in October of 2023.
Those figures come from the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Construction Backlog Indicator, which reports on projects in the planning stage.
Looking at the recent numbers, Anirban Basu, the ABC’s chief economist, remarked that “like the rest of the economy, the construction industry remained in some semblance of a holding pattern in October.”
The reason for the holding pattern, according to Basu, is owing to a combination of builders waiting to see the results of the presidential election, while also hoping that interest rates might further decline.
In the commercial and institutional sector, the backlog last month was at 8.5 months, hardly different from the 8.6 months seen in October 2023.
Two of the most significant changes were recorded in the heavy industrial sector, which dropped from a 10.2-month backlog one year ago to 8.1 months last month; and the infrastructure sector, with an 8.9-month backlog this most recent October, and 6.9-month backlog a year ago.
Regionally, builders in the South had the greatest average backlog at 9.4 months; followed by the Middle West at 8.3 months; and the Northeast at 7.9 months.
The smallest numbers came out of the West with an October backlog of 7.4 months.
As is usually the case, the nation’s largest construction firms reported the most extensive backlogs, with companies enjoying annual revenues beyond $100 million seeing a 12.3-month backlog; and those in the $30 million to $100 million showing backlogs of anywhere from 8.8 to 10.1 months.
Companies earning revenue of $30 million or less reported backlogs in October of 7.3 months.
Despite a sometimes pensive atmosphere among all the sector respondents to the ABC survey, noted Basu, “contractors remain upbeat about the next two quarters.”
Accordingly, some 53% of the respondents said they expect their work to increase during the next half year, while only 22% anticipated a decline.
November 15, 2024
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay