Reshaping the Construction Industry

A recent article in Equipment World called Eyes in the Sky: How drones and UAVs are already affecting construction jobsites is very revealing.  For those of us who built and flew model airplanes in our teen years, this new grown-up sophisticated model aircraft can be fun to fly, but more important, it has already proven its value by flying where no man or woman can go with survey crews, inspection teams, flying over toxic sites, pipelines and even nuclear disasters.The article highlights the various models of drones being experimented with by three different companies.First, Richard Evans of SpawGlass called the “Tinkerer” by the author, because he grew up building and flying model airplanes.  Today he uses drones to inspect and fly construction sites At SpawGlass in Houston.  

A recent study by the National Women’s Law Center called Women In Construction: Still Breaking Ground examines the current state of women in construction and finds that the industry is sorely lacking in programs to bring women into the industry and that women continue to suffer harassment and bullying on the jobsite. The study, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, Morningstar Foundation, New Morning Foundation and the Irene B. Wolt Lifetime Trust, states that, “The share of women in construction has remained shockingly low – under 3 percent – for decades due in large part to the discrimination that blocks women from entering and staying in the field.”This is interesting in that the study compares construction to other fields and finds that women’s roles in the other professions have grown to levels of 50% – far outstripping the approximately 3% of women in our industry.  Currently, the report states that, “There are about 7,615,000 male construction workers in the U.S. and only about 206,000 women.”The study shares personal stories of women who are in the industry or were in the industry but left due to the conditions that they were subjected to on a daily basis.  

More metros add jobs in September; architecture billings rise; retail outlook stays bleakEditor’s note:  Construction Citizen is proud to partner with AGC America to bring you AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Data DIGest. Check back each week to get Ken's expert analysis of what's happening in our industry.Sign up now for Nov. 20 AGC/AIA/CMD (formerly Reed) webinar.From September 2013 to September 2014, construction employment increased in 236 out of 339 metropolitan areas (including divisions of larger metros) for which BLS reports construction data, declined in 53 and was unchanged in 50, according to an analysis that AGC released last Wednesday. (BLS combines mining and logging with construction in most metros to avoid disclosing data for industries with few firms. Because metro data is not seasonally adjusted, comparisons with months other than September are not meaningful.) Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown added the most construction jobs in the past year (13,500 construction jobs, 7%), followed by the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division (10,100 construction jobs, 9%) and the Dallas-Plano-Irving division (9,900 combined jobs, 9%). The largest percentage gains occurred in Owensboro, Ky. (33%, 900 combined jobs), Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla. (26%, 1,000 combined jobs) and Lake Charles, La. (25%, 2,700 construction jobs). Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale again lost the most jobs (-6,900 construction jobs, -7%), followed by the Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md. division (-4,100 combined jobs, -12%).  

Many contractors and sub contractors don’t pay much attention to the real estate cycle until it impacts their business and then it gets really personal for them, owners and employees.  When we are in the middle of a recovery and our workload consumes our every waking hour and a few of those sleep hours as well, we rarely step back to take a look at the bigger picture and can overlook major opportunities for business.  We thought that it might make a little sense to take a quick look at the overall market and offer an opportunity that you might want to consider.