Businesses that received Paycheck Protection Program loans are anxiously eyeing an IRS ruling that could affect whether they apply for loan forgiveness. In a notice this spring, the IRS said it had ruled out tax deductions for wages and rent paid with forgivable PPP loans in order to prevent a “double tax benefit.”…read more

New Dodge Data & Analytics research shows that U.S. commercial and multifamily construction starts plunged 22% during the first six months of 2020 compared to the same time frame in 2019. In terms of sectors, only warehouse construction posted a very small gain, while office, retail, hotels, commercial garages and multifamily housing all fell….read more

Jason Washington, the school system’s new public-private partnerships director, said during a school board meeting Friday, Aug. 21 four developers expressed interest in submitting final proposals.
According to the terms of the proposal, at least 30 percent of the contract value must be procured through minority and county-based businesses…read more

At more than $1 trillion in annual spending, the construction industry accounts for a significant portion of national GDP and is a major driver of the U.S. economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked incredibly complex challenges, from nervous lenders to on-site safety measures to liability. Documentation has become an absolutely vital tool for protection and preservation of resources in this uncertain environment…read more

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) national trade association announced Tuesday its Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) declined to 7.8 months in July, a decrease of 0.3 months from June — which, in turn, has decreased contractor optimism. The CBI is a forward-looking national economic indicator that shows work construction companies are contracted to do in the future, measured in dollars…read more

The use of construction technology is becoming increasingly important in a world where we are not relying so heavily on standard building types and are instead turning more and more to one-off prototype construction projects…read more

A new study confirms and quantifies what contractors across the country already know: Implementing COVID-19 safety preparations and protocols at jobsites has led to a decline in productivity, which is eating into their profits. …read more

COVID-19 has affected communities all around the world, with reported cases rising each day. Even when many governments and companies are responding rapidly, there is still much to be done. The construction industry has played a critical role in these difficult times, from building hospitals within days to donating equipment…read more

As building sites all over the world gradually re-open after lockdown, it’s becoming increasingly clear that construction will look different after COVID-19. Our global public health crisis has confirmed the urgent need for a new way of building homes and offices, using smart construction to tackle design problems, inefficiency, outdated techniques and environmental challenges….read more

The nonresidential construction industry lost 4,000 jobs in July, as compared to June, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) announced Friday. The construction industry as a whole, however, has added 639,000 jobs during the past three months — recovering approximately 59% of the jobs lost during the pandemic….read more

Spending on U.S. construction projects fell 0.7% in June as both home building and nonresidential activity declined, the Commerce Department said on Monday. Private and government spending on construction both also declined by the same 0.7% figure…read more

After all, modular construction offers a fast, efficient way to build structures in a controlled factory setting using fewer workers, who can more easily comply with social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols than at a traditional commercial construction site.

But something unexpected happened on the way to modular and offsite construction’s sustained COVID-19 surge…read more

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has started testing the different uses of the four-legged Spot Robots in its internal operations, becoming the first utility in the region to use this robot, developed by Boston Dynamics….read more

Construction is one of the largest industries still resisting the call of the 21st century, its practitioners opting for decades-old but tried and true methods. Ben Huh, of Cheezburger fame, aims to modernize the planning and assembly of buildings with software-generated floor plans and rooms that fit together like Lego bricks…read more

A team of researchers have, for the first time ever, linked 40 years of productivity data from the construction industry with the actual work done. The results show that productivity in the construction industry has been declining since the 1970s. The results also explain the decline and how to achieve far more efficient construction in North America and Europe…read more

Coronavirus-related shutdowns required contractors to scramble to find new ways to protect workers and monitor jobsite progress while maintaining social distancing…read more

From the use of “low carbon concrete” to the development of bricks made from recycled materials, the construction sector is undergoing a number of changes that could have a far-reaching impact in the years ahead…read more

U.S. put-in-place construction spending, during the coronavirus health crisis, has benefitted from the carryover of work begun last year. 2019 construction starts included an inordinately large number of mega projects valued at $1 billion or more each. There were 35 such projects last year, with a summed value near $80 billion, or 15% of nonresidential groundbreakings…read more

Value engineering, the process of evaluating a project for potential changes that could save money without compromising on performance, typically happens for a few reasons in the realm of traditional construction. The project could be over budget, or the general contractor and owner might simply want to reduce costs or increase efficiency…read more