Construction Informer

We’re always interested in trends because if we know them ahead of time we feel like we’re more in control and have some inside information that gives us an edge.

FMI Management Consulting recently released their predictions for construction in 2008. Their forecast is that overall construction will grow 5.8 percent this year. Like other numbers I’ve seen they also put construction’s contribution to the GDP at nine percent.

There are some things in FMI’s list of trends that might surprise some. They see employee ownership as a growth area because family ownership is declining.

More firms are identifying productivity as a critical strategic issue and productivity is approaching safety in importance. FMI writes that wider adoption of planning tools and job cost systems is underway. This means more tech tools in the forecast and just in time since we’re all growing bored with our old ones.

Citing the Hispanic workforce in construction as hovering around 25 percent of all workers FMI sees language continuing to be a challenging aspect on construction sites. I think many of you construction managers, supers and others are getting encouraged to learn another language, and I know the job listings many times specify bi-lingual for these positions. This is a big safety and productivity issue.

This one will probably not come as a surprise – green building practices are being seen as necessary to marry with a firm’s best practices. FMI predicts a 58 percent increase in building green during 2008.

One trend I’d like to see here would be one toward power tools with longer battery lives. I wonder if anyone is working on that one?