The New Normal in Building Construction? Redirect your Marketing Focus!
We’re into the fourth year of the construction slowdown and ENR’s July 19th issue shows a “weaker than anticipated rebound” in residential construction, up less than 2% from 2009’s abysmal showing, and “massive double digit declines” in many non-residential building markets, including 60% decline in lodging, 40% in private office buildings, 35% in other commercial building work and 31% in manufacturing construction. Private school and healthcare markets were down 20 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Total private construction was down 15 percent year-to-date from 2009 and total construction (including government) was down 12 percent. This is far from the end. For example, the decline in employment the past four years and the “jobless recovery” mean that many office buildings won’t be fully occupied for years to come. We’re massively overbuilt, bottom line, for any reasonable economic demand. The fact that green building continues to grow only demonstrates that it has become the New Normal, not that overall conditions are recovering anytime soon. The decline in new building construction also means that more money will be devoted to building retrofits and upgrades by owners, showing design and construction firms where they should be placing their marketing emphasis.
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