Texas & Southeast

Residential Contracts Continue to Fuel Florida Rebound

Construction contracts for Florida housing projects soared again in October, as approximately $1.2 billion worth of new residential work moved ahead during the month, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. That figure marked a 46% gain over the residential category’s year-ago estimate, and helped offset declines in other markets to push the state’s overall October total to a 4% gain.

Image courtesy Charles Perry Partners

Charles Perry Partners was scheduled to break ground in December on a $33-million regional transit system facility for the city of Gainesville.

Overall, McGraw-Hill Construction estimated Florida’s October total at just over $1.9 billion. The nonresidential construction category added roughly $416.6 million in new contracts for the month, a 15% decline from a year ago. And the nonbuilding category—which includes infrastructure projects—recorded nearly $322.4 million in new work, a 42% drop compared to last October.

For the year-to-date, McGraw-Hill now estimates new Florida contracts at $23.2 billion, or 19% higher than the amount reported for same period of a year ago, $19.5 billion.

Residential remains the main contributor to the Florida construction industry’s 2012 resurgence. For the first 10 months of the year, the state has recorded nearly $11.7 billion in new residential construction contracts, for an increase of 45% compared to 2011.

Nonresidential is the only other positive sector for 2012, though, with its $5.5-billion year-to-date tally representing a 3% gain over last year’s total. The nonbuilding category, with nearly $6.1 billion in new contracts, is flat compared to 2011.

Click here to read about the Southeast construction industry's prospects for 2013.

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.