Following a stretch of 3 months with an increase in demand for design services, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) dropped precipitously in January. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI shows an approximate nine to twelve...

New Residential Construction Outlook The slack economy has weakened the housing market even further. All of the latest market reports were negative. Permits, starts, sales and pending sales declined. Home prices declined further and the inventory of...

Reed Construction Data announced today that the value of construction starts in January 2008, excluding residential contracts, totaled $21.347 billion, down 13.1% from January 2007 and 8.0% below December. Monthly starts totals have been ebbing since...

The U.S. Green Building Council is planning to revamp its popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system in an effort to make it more user-friendly. USGBC hopes to create, with some exceptions, one LEED system instead of having LEED...

January housing starts increased 0.8 percent to 1.012 million (SAAR). The increase in total starts was due to the strength in multi-family housing, which was up 22 percent, while single family activity fell 5.2 percent to 0.743 million (SAAR)....

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more jobs, 49,000, were lost in the construction industry in December, continuing an unfortunate trend in 2007. Needless to say, a large percentage of the 195,000 construction jobs lost in 2007 affected...

The value of construction spending in 2007 was $1.16 billion, 2.6 percent below the total of $1.19 spending in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Spending in December sank to the largest decline in 15 months, according to American...

The Architecture Billings Index recorded another healthy score in December 2007. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI shows an approximate nine to 12 month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending....

New construction starts tumbled 8 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $522.8 billion, it was reported by McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. The continuing slide for residential building was joined...

For the second year in a row, a survey of safety professionals has found that noncompliance with personal protective equipment protocols continues to be an issue in the workplace. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they had observed workers...

The technical committee of the Gypsum Association has recently reviewed and revised three of the Association’s technical documents. The updated documents are GA-224, Installation of Predecorated Gypsum Board; GA-226, Application of Gypsum Board to Form...

The 90th annual convention of the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry, March 23–27 at the Paris/Bally's Las Vegas hotels in Las Vegas, Nev., will focus on education and networking—the elements that all attendees use to boost company...

For the past several years, as residential construction nearly collapsed, commercial construction continued to grow, helping to keep contractors busy and regional economies growing. Now, nonresidential construction spending may be headed for a decline. ...

New NAHB study of consumers reports that 51 percent willing to pay up to $11,000 more if energy costs are reduced $1,000 annually. Home buyers are willing to pay for energy efficiency, prefer smaller homes with high-quality products and amenities, and...

Hit by higher costs and strong demand world-wide, steel giant ArcelorMittal said it would raise steel prices 10% to 15% in the U.S. and Europe. Chief Executive Officer Lakshmi Mittal said prices could go even higher if mining companies impose, as...

A new professional designation program from the National Association of Home Builders will soon provide home buyers with additional assurance that the builder or remodeler they’ve chosen is authentically “green.” The Certified Green...

With the U.S. economy technically very close to recession, today's report of higher unemployement claims should be a major concern. Over the next few months and quarters our overall unemployement rates and consumer confidence will most likely drive our...

U.S. employment unexpectedly tumbled last month for the first time in more than four years, fueling worries that the U.S. economy which already limped into 2008 might soften further or even slip into recession in coming months. But there were some...

With domestic steel mills announcing successive increases, steel framing vendors and dealers face rapidly rising metal stud and accesory costs in the near term. Most of the current steel framing rises are due to the rising costs of raw materials, scrap,...

In addition to higher Steel Framing Costs and Focus on Industry Compliance (i.e. all material meeting current code requirements), it now appears several of the leading Steel Framing Manufacturers are making efforts to implement pricing policies that are...

Homebuilder D.R. Horton, Inc. swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss amid a further $245.5 million in inventory and land charges, and the company expects the "challenging" environment to continue. The largest U.S. residential builder by volume reported a...

Quiet Solution, a market and technology leader in high performance sound systems, announced that it has shipped over 1,000,000 panels of QuietRock® wallboard. QuietRock cost effectively delivers high performance noise reduction which has helped...

Seeking to nip an incipient recession in the bud, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the second time in nine days, in one of its most aggressive campaigns in decades to boost the nation's economy. In its statement accompanying the move, the...