Nonresidential Construction Index Continues to Rise
Words: Sarah Avallone FMI, a provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, released The 2013 First Quarter Nonresidential Construction Index report. The NRCI of 58.1 is a 2.6-point improvement over Q4 2012.
The improvement reflects fundamental bright spots in the economy. “Optimistic but not bullish” is the way one panelist described his outlook on hiring for his company in 2013. Reflective of this is that 45 percent of NRCI panelists expect to increase full-time direct employees by as much as 5 percent.
Most noting that hiring will be based on current staff reaching a level of consistently over full work capacity. Only 9 percent report that they expect to decrease the number of full-time direct employees.
In addition, NRCI panelists are slightly more optimistic than last year at this time for growth in nonresidential construction. Nearly 50 percent expect modest growth for 2013, with 18.4 percent predicting that industry growth for the year could reach as high as five percent. However, backlogs for NRCI panelists are unchanged, holding steady at a median of 9 months.
To download a copy of the full report, click here. For reprint permission or to schedule an interview with the author, contact Sarah Vizard Avallone at 919.785.9221 or savallone@fminet.com.