As we've already done with three of the four states in ENR Southeast's coverage area, we're going to provide a look back at South Carolina's last six months of construction contract activity. This activity is in the form of McGraw-Hill Construction's monthly reports 

This all started with a quick review of the date for Florida's last six months, which seemed to be showing definite signs of improvement and even, possibly, "recovery."

South Carolina's numbers are more positive than negative over the last six months. But I'll leave it to readers to gauge how excited—or not—to be about these.

Of course, as I've already stated relative to Florida's numbers, for example, the percentage gains shown, which often look pretty good, are perhaps more indicative of where the market's been than where it's going. In other words, the Southeast endured a considerable downturn, with markets falling far in a short period of time. So, these percentage gains should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, they are gains, and not declines.

Without further delay, here are South Carolina's total construction contract estimates and corresponding percentages for gains/losses. Again, McGraw-Hill Construction's figures report on the total value of new construction contracts. Therefore, they are indicators of future construction activity. (Note: McGraw-Hill Construction's press reports for state activity do not indicate percentage figures for any month in which the gain was more than double. Therefore, the percentage indicated here for November is listed as just "100%.")

For more information about each month's details, click on the links included below.

January $372.4 million -40%
December $390.3 million +38%
November $1.4 billion +100%*
October $474.7 million -11%
September $479 million +35%
August $650.1 million +46%

So ... what do you think?