Jim Huff Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned utility, beat cost hikes on a 600-MW pulverized coal plant near Cross. The market for building new powerplants and wind farms in the U. S. is very strong, with most of the top contractors in the sector reporting record or near-record levels of activity and backlogs. But questions remain about the strength of specific market segments going forward. For example, will the cancelation of several pulverized coal projects in Texas and Florida this year be echoed elsewhere, and will the possible enactment of federal carbon legislation in 2009 further stifle demand for such
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to extend for 15 years the federal financial "backstop" for terrorism-related insurance claims, despite a veto warning from the White House. The legislation, which the House passed on Sept. 19 by a 312-110 vote, also would add group life to the lines of insurance the federal backup program covers. The program was established in 2002 by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, and extended in 2005. The program now is to lapse on Dec. 31 if Congress doesn't extend it again. The Bush administration has objected to the House bill, in part because of
Parsons, � Rich Lasalle Parsons is part of a joint venture building a $118-million bridge across Kicking Horse Canyon in British Columbia. When much of the nation turned on the news on Aug. 1 to discover that a bridge had collapsed in downtown Minneapolis, something that had been common knowledge in the transportation industry suddenly was highlighted for the entire nation: bridges and other U.S. infrastructure were crumbling because of inadequate funding for projects. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently reported that the funding shortfall will reach $1 trillion by 2015. Some states are using tolls and private-sector concessions to
Workers’ compensation insurance rates around the nation continue to drop, due largely to legislative reform efforts in a number of states as well as better safety practices by employers, industry sources report. But some in the insurance industry wonder whether a changed political landscape with more liberal state legislatures and insurance commissioners could slow down or end that decline. In its annual “state-of-the-line” analysis released in May, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) found that 2006 rates were the best that they had been in 25 years, and that trend appears to be continuing into 2007, says Peter Burton,
Caterpillar inc Starting Line. Recruiters hit drag races to look for aspiring mechanics. Attracting young men and women into construction will keep getting tougher: Government estimates put at least 1.8 million new skilled-trade workers in the field through 2014, and 61% will be needed just to replace retirees. Desperate for warm bodies to fill the gap, employers are trying new tactics—some mundane, some flashy—to lure candidates with mechanical skills. A microcosm of this far-reaching labor problem stands out among equipment mechanics and diesel technicians, a hands-on field with 400,000 workers, yet contractors and dealers complain every year that they still
Asteady flow of work is driving high demand for construction trades, as well as the highest wage and benefit increases in recent history for both union and open-shop workers nationwide. Wage and benefit settlements for union trades have so far produced an average first year increase of $1.90, or 4.7%, according to the Construction Labor Research Council. That hike exceeds the $1.74 recorded during the same period in 2006, a 4.6% increase. Labor agreements for all of 2006 saw average increases of 4.5% for the first year, the highest percentage increase since 1989, says CLRC. But preliminary data suggests that
A two-year housing slump has pulled back some materials price escalation. overcapacity. It has taken nearly two years of steady declines in the housing market but the strong materials price escalation of the previous three years appears to have been knocked off balance. Inflation still has some strong niches, especially among metal products, but overall construction inflation is easing. “Every month of this year, we have had to revise down our housing forecast, and with each new revelation of the housing bubble blow-up, we have become a little more pessimistic,” says John Mothersole, economist with the Washington, D.C.-based forecasting firm
USG With the housing recession now in its second year, gypsum wallboard prices have sunk to historic lows as demand in the oversold market continues to evaporate. Producers of gypsum wallboard, which is particularly tied to home building, are especially hurt as capacity invested during recent boom times now sits idle. Prices for gypsum wallboard in July were 20% lower than 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is a trend economists agree will continue into next year. “Gypsum wallboard producers will look back on 2007 as a horrible year,” says John Mothersole, senior economist at Washington, D.C.-based
+ click to enlarge Stabilized pricing on a broad range of structural steel products points to a much less frenzied market in the months ahead after a first-half marked by soaring prices and tight supply. The sharp price inflation that contractors struggled with over the past year has subsided, according to a broad contingent of buyers and sellers. Demand for steel reinforcing bar, wire mesh and structural plate and beam is driven mostly by construction activity, particularly nonresidential work. While the commercial construction market is still doing well, the decline in new-housing construction has slowed demand for reinforcing bar used
AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept. Ayers has been head of IBEW construction and maintenance department. Construction union leaders have selected Mark Ayers, director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' construction and maintenance department, to be the next president of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. Ayers, who was confirmed for the post by the BCTD board on Sept. 6, will succeed the retiring Edward C. Sullivan as president on Oct. 1. Before heading the IBEW's construction and maintenance unit, Ayers was business manager and financial secretary for the union's Local 34 in Peoria, Ill. He said in
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