Like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football, construction executives in recent years have hoped for different results—every year hoping that this would be year the industry would bounce back from the prolonged doldrums that began in 2008. But just like Lucy snatching back the pigskin, by the third quarter of each year, economic reality would set in and market confidence would plummet.
The ENR Construction Industry Confidence Index survey has tracked the trend. In 2010, for the first time, the CICI index entered positive territory in the second quarter, only to plummet back to a negative outlook in the third quarter. In 2011, the CICI hit a record high for optimism in the first quarter, only to drop precipitously in the third quarter. The CICI again started 2012 with high hopes, only to fall to neutral by the third quarter.