BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. DIESEL FUEL, 1985=100. ASPHALT, 1981=100. Rising crude-oil and fuel costs will take a toll on highway projects this spring, says Anirban Basu, chief economist at Arlington, Va.-based Associated Builders and Contractors. "The spike in petroleum prices is a major concern," Basu says, adding, "This type of [hike] could become increasingly problematic for both the broader economy and the nation's construction industry."Rising oil prices were reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' producer price index for diesel fuel, which peaked at a year-to-year increase of 50% last July. As of last month, the annual inflation rate for

ENR Art Dept. Retail and commercial building starts. PHOTO COURTESY Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Picking Up Forest City is building a mixed-use development around the Barclays Center Arena in Brooklyn. Related Links: The Top 425 Owners Main Story ENR Top Owners Sourcebook: Overview, Rankings and Market Sector Reports With the retail sector languishing, American developers are clinging to the renewed demand for construction of office and apartment buildings.Providing modest relief, the sector movement is a result of converging market factors, including historically low vacancy rates in offices and a backlog in apartment units, as demand catches up to low levels

Workers' compensation premiums posted a 2% increase this year compared with 2010's national average. The increase will likely set the tone for rate increases to come, say construction-industry insurers tracking states' annual filings this summer.The year's overall “modest increase in premiums [is] a sign the workers' compensation markets are hardening,” says Peter Burton, senior division executive at Washington, D.C.-based National Council on Compensation Insurance.NCCI reports that 12 states so far have filed rate changes for workers' compensation premiums this cycle, which started in July, with eight states filing increases and four states filing decreases. This reverses last year's trend, when

Photo courtesy of Walbridge / Rob Pepple Walbridge Co. is CM-at-risk on this solar-panel plant for Twin Creeks Technologies South East LLC. Contractors in the manufacturing sector are finding work through a proliferation of facility retrofits and renovations as cash-strapped manufacturers scramble for cost-saving efficiency, flexibility in buildings management and sustainability.In the telecommunications market, voracious consumer demand for new technology and services is pumping up markets with an explosion of small cell-tower and related infrastructure projects.Although greenfield projects are few and far between, contractors in auto assembly plants and solar-panel factories report ample work, even as the current markets present

Floods that swelled the Mississippi River to record levels are also threatening to push up the region's materials prices and cause costly delivery delays as the disaster's cost to the construction supply chain mounts. Impeded barge shipments of scrap metal, aggregates, gypsum and other materials on the flooded Mississippi River will drive materials costs up in the region this summer, says Ken Simonson, Associated General Contractors' chief economist. Related Links: View the Full ENR 2011 Second Quarter Cost Report (PDF) Hard Times Draw the Line for Bargaining How John Deere's New Hybrid Wheel Loaders Get Their Juice Liquidating Leftover Materials

Asphalt prices, which had largely flat-lined in the last 12 months, were shocked back to life in March by a run-up in oil prices fueled by the recent political turmoil in the Middle East. Highway contractors are guessing at whether hard-to-predict asphalt prices will continue to follow oil in upcoming months, something that doesn’t always happen. Source: Spot Rpice Brent Blend. IHS Global Insight. Source: Producer Price Index Bureau of Labor Statistics. IHS Global Insight. Related Links: Economics: Japan Quake Won�t Shake Up Costs as Recession Trumps Rising Prices Confidence Survey: Top Industry Execs Believe the Market Has Turned a

The global recession knocked down building costs in many Asian countries in 2009, but inflation appears to be making a modest comeback in the region this year. The London-based international cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald Inc. reports that building costs in Shanghai declined 3.4% in 2009 after increasing about 7% in both 2007 and 2008. This year, building costs in Shanghai increased 1.4%, says G&T. + Image Related Links: Forecast: A Weak Recovery Checks Inflation Confidence Index: Heads of Major Firms Believe Market Is Nearing Stability Equipment: Why Few Are Debating the New Federal Fuel Economy Rules Lumber: Chinese Demand

Reignited markets in the manufacturing sector presage the first rumblings of economic recovery as “there is a resurgence of owners starting to move and putting some investments in place,” says Jeff Bischoff, vice president of business development at Lexington, Ky.-based Gray Construction, a design and construction firm with a host of projects for Asian and European manufacturers. Photo: Courtesy of Gray Construction Contractor’s crew coordinates the installation of a jointless floor at Siemens’ nacelle plant in Hutchinson, Kan. Completion is set for December. Related Links: Overview: Finding Work in Tough Times View Complete Global Sourcebook with Rankings General Building: Firms

For developers able to roll with the recession’s punches, some new activity in markets this fall has owners and lenders finally mustering some optimism and cautiously returning to the fray. “Not so bad is the new good,” says Joe Coradino, executive vice president at Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. He made the observation in September while on a discussion panel at Philadelphia’s Urban Land Institute, where regional developers echoed other builders around the nation that the first signs of recovery are evident in projects in the government, medical, education and hospitality markets. “We’ve hit bottom, the free fall is

There was both bad and good news for petroleum contractors this summer. The bad news was a pall of uncertainty currently shrouding petro markets as major oil-spill disasters—Gulf of Mexico rig explosions and a Michigan pipeline leak so far this year—ratcheted up scrutiny, opposition, delays and cancellations of new projects. But if there is good news for petro contractors, it is the fact that America’s monstrous thirst for oil remains unabated, and contractors know it’s only a matter of time before the carbon-based infrastructure market comes roaring back to life. Photo: Courtesy of SAIC SAIC has three contracts for hydrocracker