Nonresidential fixed investment expanded 5.5% and residential fixed investment expanded 7.5% during the second quarter of 2014, according to a July 30 release by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 4% (seasonally adjusted annual rate) during the second quarter of 2014 following a 2.1% decrease (revised from -2.9%) in the first quarter.“The robust second quarter growth was primarily driven by higher consumer and business spending,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The 4% reading on second quarter GDP blew away consensus expectations of 3%, and the first quarter wasn’t quite as
Nonresidential construction spending fell during June after posting significant gains the previous two months, but remains 4.6% higher than a year ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Spending for June totaled $588.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, a 2.8% drop from the upwardly revised $605.6 billion in nonresidential construction spending from the previous report. “The monthly decline in spending should not be cause for significant alarm,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The impact of a brutal winter continues to manifest itself in the data. A considerable volume of construction was postponed during the
Courtesy Tony Illia The new control tower at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas, Nev., looks to be delayed for one-year due to "construction issues," according to the FAA. The new 352-ft.-tall federal air traffic control tower at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas faces at least a one-year delay for repairs after an antimicrobial coating flaked from ductwork and became airborne, say project officials.A spray chemical was applied to dry building walls, ducts and subfloors, curbing a potentially toxic black mold called stachybotrys chartarum, which previously shutdown local buildings in the 1990s and 2000s. When the coating was placed in
By Jason Fifield Sun Devil Stadium in the midst of work to remove more than 5,00 seats from the north end zone. A little more than 55 years after it was originally constructed — and more than five years since the renovations were deemed necessary — Arizona State University announced on Thursday that Hunt Construction and Sundt Construction, Inc. will be the construction manager at-risk for the project.The university also announced that Arizona-based Gould Evans and national stadium design experts HNTB Corporation will handle design duties. Costs and details will be refined over the next year and construction is slated
Tesla inched closer to selecting a site outside of Reno, Nev., for its $4 to $5 billion factory to produce lithium batteries for electric vehicles on Thursday, confirming a 600-acre site has undergone some pre-construction work, but fell short of committing to the site over unidentified candidates in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.In a conference call with shareholders Thursday, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk said the same type of work that has been completed at the recently-paused site 17 miles east of Sparks, Nev., will be duplicated at other sites before a final decision is made. The completed factory
The interior of Denver’s renovated Union Station officially reopened to the public on July 26. The historic train station was closed for extensive renovations on December 2, 2012. The $54-million project was focused on preserving significant features of the 1914 Beaux-Arts building. Photo by Ellen Jaskol The upper floors of the north and south wings of the station house the 112-room Crawford Hotel, named for Colorado preservationist Dana Crawford. Photo by Ellen Jaskol The $54-million interior renovation was focused on preserving significant features of the 1914 Beaux-Arts building. It has now returned to its origins as a multi-modal transit hub and
University researchers have unveiled a new concrete bridge bent system that they say reduces earthquake damage while speeding construction. The new rocking design uses octagonal, prefabricated, pretensioned concrete columns for added elasticity and a recentering effect that minimizes seismic-related structural damage and displacement. The structural support system’s critical components are created under factory conditions for improved quality and reduced erection time. The state transportation departments of California, Washington and Nevada have expressed early interest in adopting the bridge bent system, whose only size limitations stem from transportation logistics of precast columns and beams. Image courtesy of University of Washington, Seattle/Network
The Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise announced Tuesday that it has selected a construction team for the long-embattled, $400 million, 1.2 million-sq-ft West Valley Resort and Casino which prompted U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake to introduce a companion bill to an earlier House-passed measure that would prohibit the construction of any new Indian gaming operation on unincorporated land in the metro Phoenix area that is not contiguous to an existing Indian reservation. Courtesy Tohono O'odham Rendering of the proposed West Valley Resort and Casino. According to a press release issued by Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise, Hunt Construction Group and
Planning to work out of state? Here are some tips to avoid surprises when you perform a construction or design contract outside your home state. 1. Become authorized to do business. Whether you want to do business in another state as an existing construction or design firm or create a new entity to do business in the other state, you need to get a certificate of authority from the state agency that regulates business entities—usually the secretary of state or the department of commerce.One reason for registering in each state where you do business is that many states prohibit an
Construction employment expanded in 215 metro areas, declined in 80 and was stagnant in 44 between June 2013 and June 2014, according to a new analysis of federal employment data recently released by the Associated General Contractors of America. “Contractors have been expanding their workforce in about two-thirds of the country for several months in a row,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “Some metro areas are adding workers at a strong clip, but the gains remain modest and sporadic in many localities.”Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas added the largest number of construction jobs in the past year (11,700 jobs, 10%), followed
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