Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnectAlex Carrick is Chief Economist for ConstructConnect. He is a frequent contributor to the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce. He has delivered presentations throughout North America on the Canadian, United States and world construction outlooks. A trusted and often-quoted source for the media, Mr. Carrick holds a Masters in Economics. « Less
Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnectAlex Carrick is Chief Economist for ConstructConnect. He is a frequent contributor to the Daily Commercial News and the Journal of Commerce. He has delivered presentations throughout North America on the Canadian, United States and world construction outlooks. A trusted and often-quoted source for … More »
May 18th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.
Below are six graphs recording 12-month moving averages of ConstructConnect ’s nonresidential construction starts.
When the value of the current month is higher than for the same month a year ago, the line will turn up; when lower, it will dip.
String a couple of similar positive or negative directional changes together over several months and one has a trend.
And that’s what the graphs are designed to do, show improving or deteriorating trends in a dozen major and more granular categories of construction work. Read the rest of Nonresidential Construction Starts Trend Graphs – April 2017
Tags: Alex Carrick, build, Connect, construct, ConstructConnect, Construction, Economics, Economist
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May 16th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
ConstructConnect announced today that its April construction starts, excluding residential activity, were -7% versus March. The usual seasonal pattern is for a 12% increase month to month at this time of year, as blustery winter mellows into gentler spring.
 April of this year compared with average April results over the prior five years, 2012-2016, was +17.6%. Year-to-date starts so far in 2017 have been -2% compared with the same first four months of last year.
The starts figures throughout this report are not seasonally adjusted (NSA). Nor are they altered for inflation. They are expressed in what are termed ‘current’ as opposed to ‘constant’ dollars.
Read the rest of ConstructConnect’s YTD Starts -2% after April Softens -7%
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, Connect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economics, Economist
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May 1st, 2017 by Jeff Rowe
I spent this week in the beautiful city of Ghent, Belgium for a series of company and product overviews at Bricsys at an event the company called Bricsys Insights.
For me, this was an introduction to and company and product line I had heard about, but didn’t have much knowledge about. This week that all changed for the better.
As a company, Bricsys has taken on several iterations over the years since it was founded in 2002, and has emerged today as a real player in the CAD markets for both architectural and mechanical design applications. The company currently has 130-140 employees, the majority being developers, so it is efficiently run and product focused.
Read the rest of Bricsys Insights: ACAD to BCAD
Tags: 3D, ACAD, BCAD, BricsCAD, Bricsys, CAD, Jeff Rowe, MCAD
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April 24th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.
Below are six graphs recording 12-month moving averages of ConstructConnect ’s nonresidential construction starts.
When the value of the current month is higher than for the same month a year ago, the line will turn up; when lower, it will dip.
String a couple of similar positive or negative directional changes together over several months and one has a trend.
And that’s what the graphs are designed to do, show improving or deteriorating trends in a dozen major and more granular categories of construction work.
U.S. Nonresidential Construction Starts ‒ ConstructConnect
(12-month moving averages)
Source and Chart: ConstructConnect.
U.S. Commercial & Institutional Construction Starts ‒ ConstructConnect
(12-month moving averages)
Read the rest of Nonresidential Construction Starts Trend Graphs – March 2017
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, construct, ConstructConnect, Economic, Economist
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April 21st, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, construct, ConstructConnect, Economic, Economist, house, Industry, job, nonresidential, residential
Posted in ConstructConnect | Comments Off on Top 10 Project Starts in the U.S. – March 2017
April 19th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
ConstructConnect announced today that March construction starts, excluding residential activity, were +17.8 versus February. The long-term February-to-March advance, due to seasonality, has been only +2.5%. It’s usually not until April that more accommodating weather causes a big lift in volume of about +12.0%. Spring has apparently come early for groundbreakings this year.
2017-04-18-US-Nonresidential-Construction-Starts-Mar-2017
March 2017 versus what was an exceptionally buoyant March 2016 did not fare as well, -5.9%. And year-to-date starts (Q1 2017) have been -5.1% versus January-to-March of last year.
The starts figures throughout this report are not seasonally adjusted (NSA). Nor are they altered for inflation. They are expressed in what are termed ‘current’ as opposed to ‘constant’ dollars.
‘Nonresidential building’ plus ‘engineering/civil’ work accounts for a considerably larger share of total construction than residential activity. The former’s combined proportion of total put-in-place construction in the Census Bureau’s February report was 60%; the latter’s was 40%.
ConstructConnect’s construction starts are leading indicators for the Census Bureau’s capital investment or put-in-place series. Also, the reporting period for starts (i.e., March 2017) is one month ahead of the reporting period for the investment series (i.e., February 2017.)
View this information as an infographic.
Read the rest of Springy Bounce in ConstructConnect’s March Starts, +18%
Tags: AEC, Alex Carrick, alexcarrick, architect, build, construct, ConstructConnect, Economic, Economist, Housing, job
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March 23rd, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
ConstructConnect announced today that February starts, excluding residential activity, nearly held their own versus an upwardly revised January. The latest month’s level of $26.2 billion was only -1.7% compared with the volume in the month before.
Throughout the long-term history of the starts, there has been a typical drop – due to weather-related factors − of -2.5% between January and February. Harsh conditions in winter can put a halt to field work. February, however, is the last in a string of months during which starts tend to decline period-to-period on account of seasonality. From March through July, the tendency is for starts to pick up from one month to the next.
Starts in February 2017 versus what was an exceptionally strong February 2016 were -9.2%. Year-to-date starts in 2017 compared with January-to-February of last year were -7.5%.
The starts figures throughout this report are not seasonally adjusted (NSA). Nor are they altered for inflation. They are expressed in what are termed ‘current’ as opposed to ‘constant’ dollars.
‘Nonresidential building’ plus ‘engineering/civil’ work accounts for a considerably larger share of total construction than residential activity. The former’s combined proportion of total put-in-place construction in the Census Bureau’s January report was 60%; the latter’s was 40%.
Read the rest of ConstructConnect’s -2% February Starts Almost Hold Their Ground
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, build, Connect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist
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March 21st, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
The accompanying table records the top 10 project starts in the U.S. for February 2017.
There are several reasons for highlighting upcoming large projects. Such jobs have often received a fair amount of media coverage. Therefore, people in the industry are on the lookout for when jobsite work actually gets underway. And, as showcase projects, they highlight geographically where major construction projects are proceeding.
Read the rest of Top 10 Project Starts in the U.S. – February 2017
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist, house, job
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March 20th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
Clichés are often true and it is the case that a picture can be worth a thousand words.
Below are six graphs recording 12-month moving averages of ConstructConnect ’s nonresidential construction starts.
When the value of the current month is higher than for the same month a year ago, the line will turn up; when lower, it will dip.
String a couple of similar positive or negative directional changes together over several months and one has a trend.
Read the rest of Nonresidential Construction Starts Trend Graphs – February 2017
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, construct, ConstructConnect, Economist, house, job
Posted in ConstructConnect | Comments Off on Nonresidential Construction Starts Trend Graphs – February 2017
March 13th, 2017 by Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect
Article source: ConstructConnect
Further big improvements in America’s labor market statistics at the beginning of this year – with net new jobs creation climbing by almost half a million (+473,000) and the unemployment rate falling to a tight 4.7% − have convinced many analysts that the Federal Reserve will be acting quite aggressively in 2017 to hike interest rates. Where before there was an expectation that the federal funds rate would be lifted two or three times through December, by 25 basis points on each occasion (with 100 basis points equaling 1.00%), the consensus now is for an upward adjustment more frequently, either three or four times.
The Fed is probably hoping to attain, in easy-to-absorb stages over this year and next, a key policy-setting rate close to 3.00%. Nor are stock markets viewing such a prospect with anything like the same amount of dread as in the not so distant past. Share prices have been on a roll that has taken them to all-time highs.
Canada’s most recent employment report had a bottom line figure that wasn’t particularly outstanding (i.e., net new jobs of +15,000 in February), but included in the detail was an impressive increase in full-time staffing (+105,000), with most of the gain (+84,000) coming among what are termed ‘core-aged’ women (i.e., females 25-to-54 years of age).
Read the rest of A Dozen Mid-March Economic Nuggets
Tags: Alex Carrick, architect, bank, build, Canada, construct, ConstructConnect, Construction, Economic, employment, home, house, job, market, PMI, US
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