Date: April 19, 2016
News - 10 Construction Industry Trends to Watch This Year
Analysts predict 2016 will be a strong year for the industry, as Dodge Data & Analytics' Construction Outlook reports a predicted 6% growth.
Several experts were interviewed from various areas of the construction industry and have hypothesized the following 10 trends to be on the lookout for:
- Skilled labor shortage will continue to plague construction companies.
- The large portion of employees that left the industry during the recession have not returned leaving a lot of gaps in the workforce at all experience levels.
- Prefabricated or modular construction methods will become more popular.
- These methods have great benefits such as reducing construction time and waste that both add up to plenty of cost savings.
- Construction companies will be more cautious about project selection.
- Mainly due to the labor shortage, companies are going to be more careful about biting off more than they can chew. Employers will be taking a closer look at the number and size of projects they take on.
- BIM will become a necessity, and owner interest in the technology will grow.
- Building Information Modeling no matter at what level of implementation provides accurate and consistent project document generation and is being used for all parties involved.
- Green building will grow in commercial and residential sectors.
- Consumer demand is now pushing residential building to achieve the same higher-quality results and lifecycle cost savings as commercial environmentally friendly structures.
- Jobsite accidents and criminal indictments on the rise.
- With more and more entry level workers not trained properly in conjunction with novice developers cutting corners, on the job accidents are becoming more and more prevalent. As a result, OSHA is increasing its fines for the first time since 1990.
- Booming multifamily sector will slow down as single-family sector picks up steam.
- Dodge Data has reported that single-family construction will see a 20% increase in starts this year as multifamily is only expecting a 7% increase.
- Laser scanning technology will gain popularity.
- 3-D laser scanners is an emerging technology being used to create digital reproductions of object positions in an area and then used to produce a point cloud image.
- Remodeling will have a strong year, especially in the luxury market.
- Growth in home improvement spending has widely outpaced a homeowner’s overall spending. The number of homeowners indicating that their home improvement spending has increased has doubled in the last four years.
- Homebuyers will seek out simple, walkable communities.
- In a recent survey conducted by the American Institute of Architects, homeowner preferences such as access to public transportation, walkable neighborhoods, and mixed-use facilities are gaining in popularity among all ages.