After several years of annual declines in U.S. construction work, the 2012 construction forecasts, ranging from flat to slight increases in work, appear more promising. However, the ongoing credit crunch that plagues construction financing is still creating some uncertainty across the construction community. Faced with the ongoing slow recovery, a growing number of construction businesses have realized more direct financial benefits through tax incentives. Commonly unknown or misunderstood, perhaps the most powerful tax incentive available to most constructors is the R&D (research and development) tax credit, which is applicable to many construction jobs. For the vast majority of constructors who
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined slightly in March, was virtually unchanged in April. The index now stands at 69.2 (1985=100), down slightly from 69.5 in March. The Expectations Index declined to 81.1 from 82.5, while the Present Situation Index improved to 51.4 from 49.9 last month. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved in April. Those claiming business conditions are “good” increased to 15.3% from 14.3%. However, those claiming business conditions are “bad” edged up to 33.5% from 33.2%. Consumers’ appraisal of the job market remained mixed. Those stating jobs are “hard to get” declined to 37.5%
New construction starts in March jumped 23% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $482.4 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Cos. The increase came as the result of a sharp gain for electric utility construction, lifted in particular by work at a nuclear power plant facility in Georgia. Meanwhile, public works construction and housing showed modest improvement in March, but nonresidential building lost further momentum. For the first three months of 2012, the amount of total construction starts on an unadjusted basis was reported at $94.2 billion, down 3% from a year ago. For the 12
Sixty-eight percent of the nation’s highway contractors had motor vehicles crash into their construction work zones during the past year, according to the results of a new highway work zone study recently conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials added that the study found those work-zone crashes are more likely to kill construction workers than they are to kill vehicle operators or passengers. “Any time your jobsite is just a few feet away from fast-moving traffic, things can get a little too exciting,” said Tom Brown, the chair of the association’s national highway and transportation division and
Molybdenum and rhenium are not exactly names that roll off the tongue or carry the familiarity of the copper produced by Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah's Oquirrh Mountains. While not familiar elements to most people, molybdenum and rhenium are nonetheless valuable to steel and petroleum producers, which is why Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC), is investing approximately $340 million into building a one-of-a-kind facility to extract, process and package the minerals, using a process developed and patented by Rio Tinto. Kennecott's new molybdenum autoclave process (MAP) facility is rising on what was a
The $1-billion first phase of the Southern Delivery System, one of the largest water projects to be built in Colorado in decades, is well under way and headed toward completion in 2016. The SDS will bring Arkansas River water stored in the Pueblo Reservoir, located west of the city of Pueblo, north to Colorado Springs by means of a 62-mile underground steel pipeline. That water will serve the cities of Colorado Springs, Fountain, Security and Pueblo West.More than 100 Colorado companies are already at work on the project, which is owned by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), and more than $100
The American Council of Engineering Cos. of Colorado honored Jeanne Sharps of Denver's Felsburg Holt & Ullevig as the 2012 Outstanding Woman in Engineering. The award recognizes a woman in a leadership position in the engineering profession for professional achievements that make her a visible role model for young engineers. Roy Martinez has been named the new water agency market sector director for HDR's water business group. He will focus on strategic planning and business development and support the development of technical resources by working with business class directors. He will be headquartered in HDR's Denver office.Gary Outlaw (left)and Peter
Many of the largest project starts in the Mountain States ran counter to national trends last year in part because the list of new projects is dominated by government work at a time when institutional building is slowing down from less public funding. In fact, more than 20 of the year’s top 25 project starts are publicly funded. Rendering by Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects, courtesy of Okland Construction The new U.S. Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City is ranked among the region's top project starts for 2011. It will contain 368,445 sq ft of space and form an integrated federal
You wouldn’t go to your dentist for oral surgery without asking exactly what procedures he or she will be performing and what it will cost, would you? But this is exactly the trap that many architectural and engineering consultants fall into—neglecting to provide a specific list of services that they will perform as part of their contract. Outlining your scope of services is important to helping reduce professional liability and risk as well as boost your bottom line. To avoid surprises, it is important to nail down exactly what you are going to do—including a list of additional services you
The cost of construction materials jumped in March, even as the amount contractors charge to complete projects remained stagnant, according to a recent analysis of producer price index figures released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. “Price shocks for a number of key construction materials may have caught contractors by surprise in a period when overall inflation remained very moderate,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Even though the increases are generally small compared to the high levels of last March, contractors have not been able to pass along these new costs, putting firms at risk of
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