Manufacturing construction was hit hard during the pandemic, Steve Jones, senior director of industry insights and research for Dodge Data & Analytics, told ENR’s FutureTech conference.
In 2019, the sector had more than $32 billion in construction starts. But in 2020, manufacturing starts fell to one-third of that and are expected to stay flat in 2021, with only a modest increase of 8% in 2022, Jones said. “It’s been choppy,” he said. “When consumers stop buying,” the supply chain just falls off.