Nationally and regionally, 2009 was a pretty dismal year, economically. Construction felt the downturn especially, with an industry unemployment rate that peaked at 22.7% last December.
Additionally, earlier this year, McGraw-Hill Construction, publisher of Southeast Construction, estimated that the value of new contracts in the four-state region declined by a collective 24% during 2009, compared to 2008. (And 2008 had the lowest value of new work in many years.)