ConstructConnect Blog

Assessing January Starts is Always a Challenge ConstructConnect announced today that the latest month’s volume of construction starts, excluding residential work, was $29.7 billion (green shaded box, Table 3 below), -14.0% versus December 2019’s figure of $34.5 billion (originally reported as $34.0 billion). The decline was greater than the usual step back due to seasonality of -10.0%. ‘Seasonality’ refers to increases or decreases in activity due to favorable or unfavorable weather. Winter qualifies as unfavorable.

The accompanying table records the top 10 project starts in the U.S. for January 2020.

Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.

The accompanying table records the top 10 project starts in the U.S. for December 2019.

December’s Starts Saved by Mega Engineering Projects ConstructConnect announced today that the latest month’s volume of construction starts, excluding residential work, was $34.0 billion (green shaded box, Table 3, below), -5.3% versus November’s figure of $35.9 billion (originally reported as $34.3 billion). December’s month-to-month decline was in line with usual ‘seasonality.’ Long-term, from the last full month of fall (November) to the month that kicks off winter (December), total nonresidential starts have fallen on average -5.0%. December’s drop would have been steeper without the support of several large engineering projects. Four mega projects (i.e., of $1.0 billion or more each) arose in the latest month, summing to $5.0 billion. Three of the four were heavy engineering jobs (see Top 10 Project Starts in the U.S. - December 2019).

Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.