Texas & Southeast

North Carolina Sees All Sectors Move Up in May

Across-the-board improvement in all three of McGraw-Hill Construction’s main construction categories pushed North Carolina’s contracts total 33% higher than a year ago, according to the company. The jump represented nearly $1.6 billion in new contracts moving forward during the month.

Photo courtesy Hermosa Construction Group

Hermosa Construction Group recently completed its Blue Ridge Community Health Center project in Hendersonville, N.C.

The nonbuilding sector, which includes infrastructure projects, showed the biggest relative gain, recording nearly $325.3 million in new contracts during the month, more than double its $129.9-million tally of a year ago.

The value of nonresidential contracts increased by 32% during the month, registering $641.3 million in new work. Residential contracts moved up 8%, for a $618.2-million tally.

For the year-to-date, McGraw-Hill Construction estimates the value of new North Carolina contracts at nearly $5.9 billion, or 14% ahead of the same period of a year ago.

Through May, the state’s nonbuilding contracts total $1.2 billion, or 29% better than a year ago. Residential contracts are up 20% in value, with about $2.8 billion in new projects so far this year.

Despite the gain for May, the nonresidential category remains 2% negative for the year, with an estimated $1.8 billion in new contracts having started.

Scott Judy is ENR’s Managing Editor. His roughly 34 years as a construction journalist began with an 11-year stint visiting and writing about construction projects in the Midwest region of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Then, in 2000, Judy helped launch ENR Southeast, now known as ENR Texas & Southeast. After all these years, Judy says his favorite part of being an ENR editor is visiting job sites and learning how—and reporting on—a team’s approach to overcoming the project’s design and construction challenges. And Judy says he never turns down an invitation for a project visit.