Jim Haughey from Reed Construction Data reported this week, “The value of construction starts increased 4% in January after a weak December in spite of continuing unseasonably poor construction weather. Starts were 25% higher than in the previous January. Job-site construction spending fell 10% since last January. Interpret the divergence this way. The sharp decline in starts in early 2009 cut starts below completions leading to the year-long fall in construction spending. Starts plunged nearly 50% from August 2008 to June 2009. Since then, starts have rebounded nearly 50% so the pipeline of work is again expanding and will lead to resumed increases in monthly construction spending in a few months, with progressively larger gains through 2011.”
This good news is echoed at Albion Scaccia. Our 2010 pipeline is on the rise and has been since the 3rd quarter of 2009. While this is good news, it also signals the beginning of the rise in construction material costs. To illustrate my point, Albion Scaccia was notified this week by one of our material suppliers that they will be passing on a 20% increase in manufacturer costs. 20%! I expect that this is just the beginning as other suppliers start to dig out of the price reductions that they were forced to provide at the end of 2008 and into 2009.
What does this mean for future projects? We are counseling our owners to be strategic in their project planning. Locking in recession pricing now can still be accomplished if they want to move forward in the short term. If they are considering a project later in the year, then they will need to review their budgets to insure that they take in to account the increased material costs that are on the horizon. This is particularly true if they put together a project budget during the last 18 months.
Brian Newsome, LEED® AP
Executive VP
Wow…has it really been five years since our last website launch? A lot has changed in the last five years, both within our company and at the same time, in technology.
Albion Scaccia has enjoyed continuous growth during this period. Our revenues have grown, our customer list has grown, our project list has grown, and our success rate has grown. We are very proud of these accomplishments and have reflected this throughout the new website. You can now see the projects that we have just completed, the ones that we have just started, along with example projects that are within your areas of interest.
During the last five years the internet was also growing and evolving in to a tool that is impacting our daily lives. It used to be that companies would set up a website like they did a brochure. While there are still a lot of those companies out there, Albion Scaccia is launching this website with all the current technologies of social networking, blogging, and video capabilities. This website is a portal into everything that you would like to know about what we are doing, and over time, this site will develop into a knowledge base and industry resource for you, our clients. So, add us as a “friend” in Facebook and sign up to follow us in Twitter, and visit us often to see videos on topics that are of interest to you.
The one thing that hasn’t changed for us is our steadfast devotion to our core values and our commitment to providing you with the highest level of client service. This long term commitment will never change.
We hope that you will stay connected to us and involved as we continue this exciting journey together.
Brian Newsome, LEED® AP
Executive VP
