Construction-in-progress numbers have rebounded among this year's Top Owners, but those numbers don't completely reflect owner confidence in an increasingly volatile market. With an influx of big public and private projects tied to federal spending packages poised to put an even greater strain on a complicated supply chain, some owners are racing to get projects to the shovel-ready phase. But labor demand continues to outpace the availability of skilled workers by the hundreds of thousands. As a result, owners are under pressure to embrace earlier project collaboration to keep the economics surrounding their construction programs from overheating with inflated costs.
While there is a sense of less doom and gloom among owners, says Construction Owners Association of America executive director Howie S. Ferguson, he says group member confidence in the construction market varies “with no apparent pattern” based on region, firm size and public versus private owners. A common thread among owners that is apparent is a shift to invest more into the development of labor relationships as an in-demand resource.