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Current Cost Reports
4th Quarterly Cost Report:
Q4 Cost Report: 'Deja Vu' All Over Again
12/19/2011

Trying to predict when the industry recovery will kick in, construction economists can only agree that things will get better, just not next year.

View Complete Report with Data and Analysis
2011 Quarterly Cost Reports
ENR 3Q Cost Report 2011
3rd Quarterly Cost Report:
Slim Margins and Uncertainty Making Inflation Dangerous

Construction economists continue to dial back their forecasts for 2011. Single-family housing, public works and the institutional-building markets have all stumbled badly in 2011. The few bright spots, such as multifamily housing, manufacturing and powerplants, "won't be able to outweigh the minuses."

ENR 2Q Cost Report 2011
2nd Quarterly Cost Report:
Hard Times Draw the Line For Labor and Bargaining

For 108 years, groups representing New York City's union contractors and building trades have worked under the New York Plan for the Resolution of Jurisdictional Disputes, an agreement used to resolve inter-union disputes and bind union contractors to use organized labor. But at year-end, the era comes to a close.

ENR 1Q Cost Report 2011
1st Quarterly Cost Report:
Top Industry Execs Believe the Market Has Turned a Corner

Despite the headline-grabbing attention of federal deficits and budget cuts, the real problems facing construction remain the prolonged recession in the private nonresidential building markets, the weakening of the once-dependable public markets, a stalled housing recovery teetering on the brink of slipping back into recession and high unemployment.

2010 Quarterly Cost Reports
ENR 4Q Cost Report 2010
4th Quarterly Cost Report:
Treading Water: A Weak Recovery Checks Inflation

No more federal stimulus money, no highway bill, a weak economic recovery, a stalled housing market, a nonresidential building market yet to bottom out, gridlock in government, continued high unemployment—it could add up to no inflation in 2011.

ENR 3Q Cost Report 2010
3rd Quarterly Cost Report:
With Margins Cut to the Bone and No Demand, Costs Are Left With Nowhere To Go

The selling cost indexes, which, in part, reflect shrinking subcontractor margins due to competition, are starting to see year-to-year changes flatten out after a series of steep double-digit declines.

ENR 2Q Cost Report 2010
2nd Quarterly Cost Report:
With Stimulus Spending Running Out Recession Will Keep Grip on Costs

The recession is expected to keep its grip on costs through the second half of this year, despite a shift in what is affected.

ENR 1Q Cost Report 2010
1st Quarterly Cost Report:
Despite Upturn in Steel, Lumber and Energy Prices, Deflation Sweeps Cost Index Board

Prices for diesel fuel, structural steel, lumber and gypsum-wallboard products started to stir during the first quarter, but most increases were coming off dismal lows in 2009 and were not strong enough to break the stranglehold the recession has on construction costs.

2009 Quarterly Cost Reports
ENR 4Q Cost Report 2009
4th Quarterly Cost Report:
Recession Spreads To Nonresidential Buildings: Little Room For Costs To Move

The deepening recession in nonresidential building will keep a cap on costs, frustrating producers who are trying to take advantage of any signs of life in homebuilding.

ENR 3Q Cost Report 2009
3rd Quarterly Cost Report:
Competition Intensifies as Recession Deepens

The drop in materials prices is starting to bottom out, but that is being followed by fierce competition that is cutting margins and driving construction costs well below last year’s levels.

ENR 2Q Cost Report 2009
2nd Quarterly Cost Report:
Hard Bids, Low Costs

In less than a year the construction market has gone from owners fishing for bids to a bidding frenzy.

ENR 1Q Cost Report 2009
1st Quarterly Cost Report:
Inflation Reverses Course As Recession Floors Prices

Over the last six months, the deepening recession its accompanying credit crisis have dramatically changed the construction industry’s cost picture.

2008 Quarterly Cost Reports
ENR 4Q Cost Report 2008
4th Quarterly Cost Report:
Recession KO's Inflation in 2009

The economic crisis has gone global, slowing contruction markets worldwide and knocking back inflation both in the U.S. and overseas.

ENR 3Q Cost Report 2008
3rd Quarterly Cost Report:
Crisis Changes Demand Side of Costs

Record high oil and steel prices during the first half of the year were just starting to work their way into construction industry cost indexes when the financial meltdown on Wall Street threatened to drastically reduce the demand side of the cost equation.

ENR 2Q Cost Report 2008
2nd Quarterly Cost Report:
Demand Crowns Diesel, Not Gasoline, Cost King

Two to three years ago, some contractors began retiring diesel pickup trucks and replacing them with gasoline units in anticipation of the rising cost of cleaner diesel fuel and lower-emission engines. But many never expected diesel to lose its longtime price stability.

ENR 1Q Cost Report 2008
1st Quarterly Cost Report:
Stagflation Threatens Construction As High Prices Stare Down Recession

As bad economic news continues to mount it is becoming increasingly clear that last year’s subprime mortgage crisis is spilling over into the overall economy and could eventually threaten still healthy commercial and public construction markets.

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