After 70 M&A transactions, Dionisio noted that in some cases, the firm missed “little things” that became stumbling blocks in cultural integration with acquired firms.

Utt said KBR will seek out project partners for risk sharing to avoid “straining the balance sheet.”

But CEOs cautioned that firms seeking new links in global markets need to know what they’re getting into. For buyers, “the typical mistake is to buy something small so you think it’s less work. That’s not the case,” said Uwe Kruger, CEO of U.K.-based Atkins.

Nassef Sawiris, CEO of Egyptian contractor Orascom Construction Industries, which recently acquired Iowa-based Weitz Construction advised potential acquirees: “Use due diligence as a trial and don’t oversell.”

Meanwhile project participants said global worksharing, particularly in design, will grow. The approach, now used on 5% of Parsons Brinckerhoff projects, will grow to 30% in three to five years, said David A. McAllister, its corporate development director.

“Global workshare is recognized no longer as an option, but as the way we work,” added Andy Ewens, group engineering director for AMEC.

Market Changes Through 2025

Robinson, executive director of London-based Global Construction Perspectives presented a preview of a detailed global market study to be released in July.

He said the developed countries in the Asia Pacific market, such as Japan and Australia, are expected to remain weak in the long term as populations age. But emerging Asian countries like India and China are set to grow relatively strongly at 6.9% average per year.

Even though the pace of building in China has slowed recently, it is still the largest construction market in the world. Urbanization and a rapidly growing middle class will propel construction in these countries through 2025, Robinson added.

Sub-Saharan Africa's expected 5% annual growth in that time frame is linked to investment in the exploitation of natural resources, along with spending to overcome deficits in power and infrastructure, Robinson said.

Faced with declining populations, most of Western Europe will experience extremely low growth through 2025, with growth at just 1.1% annually. But Eastern Europe will grow at 6.9% per year, driven mostly by strength in Russia and Turkey, he added.

While North America's construction markets shrank by 3.5% annually on average between 2005 and 2012, the housing recovery in the U.S. and natural resources development in Canada are major drivers for a more optimistic forecast, Robinson contended.

With a population that is already largely urbanized, Latin America’s construction market will grow a little more slowly than in past years, but still at a healthy 3.7% annually, his report forecasts. Potential future bright spots will be Mexico and Colombia.

Global Construction Perspectives's full 250-page report will include 50 separate databases that provide data over a 20-year period for all global markets.