While the economy may be improving, I believe the recovery is fragile. Any trouble in the financial markets could be serious enough to force the whole process to begin again. Whatever happens, contractors should realize that while they can’t control the market, they can control their response, including making layoffs when needed.
Prospering in cyclical markets and surviving a downturn in the construction industry starts with recognizing what will happen when the markets soften and backlog falls off. The same thing has happened without fail in every industry down cycle for the last 50 years.