Construction/Contractor Industry Confidence Falls Nearly 40 Percent

Construction and contractor industry confidence in the economy has dropped bynearly 40 percent in the past three months, according to the results of anInternational Profit Associates Small Business Research Board (IPA SBRB) surveyrecently released.

The IPA SBRB Construction Contractor Confidence Index fell to 30.7 for themost recent poll completed in August, down from an index of 49.3 in May. Bycontrast, this outlook was far more pessimistic than that of all smallbusinesses for which the IPA SBRB Small Business Confidence Index (SBCI) droppedabout 20 percent to 39.3 from 47.3 during the same three-month period.

According to the results of the newly issued survey, 26 percent said they hadconfidence in the general economy vs. 48 percent in May. Concurrently, 38percent of the respondents in the current poll indicated disappointment with thedirection of the economy, an increase of 11 percent from the 27 percent whoexpressed that opinion in May.

Nevertheless, 52 percent of the construction and contracting firms respondingto the survey said that they are estimating revenues for the year will be aboutthe same as last year while 40 percent said they would be better than their 2005performance.

Of the respondents, 49 percent said they intend to maintain current workforcelevels while 26 percent said they intend to increase hiring with 14 percentdecreasing hiring and 9 percent of the construction and contracting firms unsureof their plans.

“The precipitous drop in confidence among the construction and contractingtrades mirrors the concern we have heard from developers and builders about theslowdown in housing purchases and softness in commitments for new commercialprojects,” said Gregg Steinberg, president of International Profit Associates.

The latest information about the IPA Small Business Research Board can befound at www.ipa-iba.com.