There is a "perfect storm" brewing in the booming construction market, Elizabeth Sanborn, North American director of consulting firm Independent Project Analysis Inc., told owners and contractors at the Construction Users Roundtable's first labor shortage risk mitigation conference in Houston on Nov. 11-12.

Sanborn pointed to a steady increase in the cost of projects—with the typical process plant up 70% since 2003—as well as a decline in engineering quality "and a period of increased capital activity in the U.S. where labor demand may outstrip labor supply.”