Many of the region’s top contractors report a slower start to 2017 across Texas and Louisiana. While industry leaders remain optimistic and firms are completing plenty of projects, some market sectors lag their performance of past years, especially oil and gas. Shifts in the marketplace mean that contractors must remain nimble, diverse and adaptive to stay competitive.
Three Texas cities are among the top 20 metropolitan areas in the U.S. for building and multifamily construction starts in 2016, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Dallas-Fort Worth is fifth largest with $8 billion in new projects, up 16% from 2015, Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land is 12th on the list at $3.2 billion, down 28%, and Austin-Round Rock is 13th, at $3 billion, up 13%. Texas is the only state in the region to make Dodge’s top 20 list of starts.