The last few years have proven to have its fair share of ups and downs as we’ve dealt with a global pandemic and now face rising prices on top of supply shortages. In the construction and architecture industries, 2020 proved to be a year of massive change, as it did in the lives of everyone. Last year, as things started to settle down in the second year of the pandemic, proved to be more consistent.
Overall, the construction industry rebounded better than expected in 2021 with a 12% increase in construction starts over an anticipated 4% increase, according to Dodge Data & Analytics in its annual construction outlook. This year, Dodge anticipates a 6% increase, which is down slightly from the growth of the industry.
While Dodge noted a significant increase in construction starts, the American Institute of Architects released the results of its Consensus Construction Forecast panel in January, saying the nonresidential building sector is expected to see a healthy rebound through 2023 after failing to recover with the broader economy last year. The panel expects to see spending on nonresidential building construction to increase by 5.4% this year, and an additional 6.1% next year. They also noted that with a 5% decline in construction spending last year, it was the retail and other commercial, industrial and health care facilities that had spending increases. This year, hotel, religious and public safety sectors are expected to continue trending down, but by 2023, all major categories are expected to see healthy gains.
According to the respondents of our annual survey, 65% said annual billings went up from 2020 to 2021, with many seeing increases of 25% or more. Be sure to check out the annual report, which looks at how a variety of metal building products have been specified over the past two years and what many expect to see this year.
