Nonresidential Construction Spending Drops Again in March

Construction Executive covers the March construction spending data from the U.S. Census Bureau, reporting another month-over-month decline in nonresidential construction spending. The piece focuses on where the pullback is concentrated, which segments are contracting, and what the trend line looks like after multiple consecutive months of softness. It’s a data-forward overview relevant to any GC estimating commercial, institutional, or industrial work.

Four straight months of declining nonresidential spending is not a blip. It’s a pipeline problem that is already working its way into bid volumes, and most estimating departments won’t feel it fully until Q3 when the pursuit calendar goes thin. The instinct is to bid more aggressively to hold revenue. That’s the wrong move. When owners and developers are pulling back, the projects still going to bid attract more competition, thinner margins, and subs who are also hungry. Selectivity matters more now, not less. Know your win rate by project type and walk away from the ones where you’re the fifth GC on the invite list with no relationship on the owner side.

Comms Center gives estimating teams a clear view of which pursuits are actually worth the outreach effort, with full bid workflow tracking from invite to award so nothing gets chased blindly. When the market tightens, knowing exactly where every active bid stands is the difference between focused effort and wasted capacity. Learn more at commscenter.com.

Read the full story at Construction Executive.