Business Risk

WHAT WE LEARNED IN JANUARY: CONTRACTORS OPTIMISTIC DESPITE COOLING MOMENTUM The construction industry’s momentum faded somewhat over the past few months. Nonresidential spending growth has stalled, employment growth has slowed to a crawl and materials prices jumped higher in Ja...

Anyone connected to the construction industry understands the importance of critical-path method scheduling. CPM schedules help identify the activities required to complete a project, as well as help determine critical activities that absolutely can’t be delayed. As a contractor...

It’s difficult to recover from a low estimate in construction. Owners don’t want to pay more than they have to, and scope creep is a credibility killer. That’s why successful companies understand the value of an experienced estimator and solid estimating systems. They also train...

The Fed’s change in stance and the expectation of lower rates over the next year certainly set the stage for that. The Dodge Momentum Index, which tracks nonresidential building projects from the initial planning stages, has been steady over the last six months, indicating that d...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29—The construction industry had 288,000 job openings on the last day of September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening ...

While legal considerations are often the last thing on the minds of project owners and contractors during an emergency, construction industry stakeholders should bear in mind the impact of natural disasters on their legal rights, remedies and potential exposure to claims. For al...

David owns a business in North Carolina and has won a contract for work in Missouri. The contract requires three of his employees to be in Missouri for a month. If one of those employees is injured while in Missouri for work, will his workers’ comp policy cover the injury? It’s ...

More than two feet of rain drenching Fort Lauderdale in a day, baseball-sized hail chunks falling on Minneapolis and the deadliest wildfire in more than a century destroying more than 2,100 acres of Maui—2023 was a stark reminder that Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13—Associated Builders and Contractors reported today that its Construction Backlog Indicator held steady at 8.4 months in July, according to an ABC member survey conducted July 22 to Aug. 6. The reading is down 0.9 months from July 2023. View ABC’s Construction...

Managing expenses can be a challenge for any field-service company, and construction companies can be particularly susceptible to inefficiencies and waste. Variable costs for materials, management of labor and subcontractors, managing cash flow and adhering to budgets over long p...