construction and design firm top executives anticipating coming slowdown

The New York-based newspaper Engineering News Record is reporting that construction and design industry top executives are feeling less bullish about business prospects between now and the end of 2020.

Using the results of the most recent Construction Industry Confidence Index survey sponsored by the paper, the Engineering News Record said that both construction and design firm executives believe “the market’s growth is beginning to slow and it may begin declining by the end of this year.”

A majority of the executives also indicated, said the paper, that both the construction and design industries are nearing the end of a historic period of business expansion.

Despite those dire forecasts, the same executives reported that current market conditions remain strong, with only 7 percent believing that a downturn is already underway.

The real decline in business, if it actually does take place, will most likely occur sometime in the next 12 to 18 months, according to 37 percent of the survey’s respondents.

But a significantly smaller group, at 16 percent, said they think their businesses will actually continue to see growth heading into the first quarter of next year.

“The construction market is cyclical, but the recent growth cycle is in its tenth year, one of the longest on record,” said the Engineering News Record. “However, all good things come to an end, and industry execs increasingly believe that growth will end in 2020.”

The paper surveyed 239 executives from large construction and design firms across the country.

By Garry Boulard

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