Industry consultant FMI says nearly half of panelists in the index survey expect construction to grow up to 5 percent this year.
Challenges remain, however. Panelists cited the following as particular concerns this year: hiring talented people, finding profitable work and uncertainty about government decisions over the economy.
Highlights of the index, compared with the fourth quarter 2013 index:
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Overall economy: The number of panelists saying the overall economy is improving jumped 19.1 points to 79.8 points.
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Local markets improve, a gain of 15.4 points to 77.0 points.
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Those saying their backlog has improved now stand at 65.7 points. While an improvement over the last quarter, this is still lower than a year ago. The median backlog for panelists remains at nine months.
In this quarter’s survey, 56 percent of panelists say they plan a 0 to 5 percent increase in staff, and 18 percent plan to add 5 to 10 percent to their full-time payroll.
