Business

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator increased to 8.4 months in January, according to an ABC member survey conducted Jan. 21 to Feb. 3. The reading is unchanged from January 2024.  View ABC’s Construction ...

2024 will be remembered for many things. One on hand: strong consumer spending and stock performance; low unemployment; rate cuts; an artificial intelligence craze; the election. On the other: high house prices and mortgage rates; stagnant wages; labor shortages. Both the positiv...

As the construction industry rounds the halfway mark of the decade, the rearview looks a bit blurry. In just five short years, a global pandemic upended the way the world works, a supply-chain crisis sent material costs soaring and social justice protests forced leaders to reexam...

For Erik Wahl, an all-American boy from Seattle, failure was never an option. Raised in what many would refer to as a traditional learning environment, Wahl was praised for getting straight As, earning a business degree, marrying a wonderful woman and having three wonderful child...

“I was absolutely fascinated from day one by all things construction,” says David Pugh, partner in the construction practice for national law firm Bradley Arant Boult and Cummings. With a grandfather successful in the foundry business, a father with a storied career at Chicago Br...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3—National nonresidential construction spending decreased 0.2% in December 2024, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending tot...

For most construction firms, working with an accountant is often limited to matters for the year-end financial statements and tax returns. This has become such a routine practice that it’s easy to forget that accountants have the potential to be valuable year-round financial stra...

Like a student cramming for an exam, Phelps Construction Group faced a tight deadline. The Denville, New Jersey­-based company was hired to renovate a space for Kindle Education, a tuition-free public charter school with about 460 students grades 6-12. The new location, for stude...

The construction industry in 2024 was defined by strong fundamentals, marked by a 10% increase in nominal value added and a 12% increase in gross output. Construction spending crossed $2 trillion and maintained a balanced trajectory in the first half of 2024. Despite facing a per...

A family person first, Henley Construction President and 2024 Associated Builders and Contractors National Chair Buddy Henley has always prioritized his relationships—with his father, daughters, employees, ABC national committee counterparts and chapter members—because he knows p...