期待已久的Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has been passed, but construction market confidence has continued to dip among industry executives.

新利18备用ENR的建筑业信心指数在第四季度下降到60，比第三季度下降了5分。对整个美国经济的信心进一步陷入了进一步的局面，下降了11分，达到50分。

The law’s passage did restore some positivity among firms. Taking only those 82 firms that filed surveys on or before Nov. 5, when the House passed the bill, the index came in at a 57 rating, rising to 62 among the 100 firms who filed after. Likewise, the latter group viewed the economy much more favorably (a 54 rating) than the former (44). In all cases however, the indices are below their Q3 levels.

The index measures executive sentiment about where the current market will be in the next three to six months and over a 12- to 18-month period, on a 0-100 scale. A rating above 50 shows a growing market. The measure is based on responses by U.S. executives of leading general contractors, subcontractors and design firms on ENR’s Top Lists to surveys sent between Oct. 25 and Dec. 6.

首席财务官：边距正在变薄

A similar dip in confidence can also be seen in results of the latest Confindex survey from the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). Each quarter, it polls contractor and subcontractor CFOs about markets and business conditions. The Confindex is based on four separate financial and market components, each rated on a scale of 1 to 200. A rating of 100 indicates a stable market; higher ratings indicate market growth.

通过调查衡量的所有指数都下降了，除了“财务状况”指数除外，该指数的稳定为110。总体订阅本身降至116个评分，比第三季度下降了2.5％。目前的信心和前一年的前景指数分别下降到115和116。

“[A] far more pessimistic report than I would have anticipated,” says Anirban Basu, CFMA advisor and CEO of economic consultant Sage Policy Group.

That pessimism belies positive economic leading indicators, he says. “The Architectural Billings Index, the stock market, money supply, all are suggesting that the current economic recovery will continue into 2022.” Not to mention the $550 billion in new monies allocated under the federal infrastructure law, he adds.

According to Basu, the question that construction executives seem to be asking is: How do we get this work done profitably? He says that while construction demand may be increasing, high material costs and labor shortages hamper firms’ ability to meet that demand. “You pass infrastructure legislation without any acknowledgement that you already have a severe worker shortage, and you’re not really doing anything to address that issue,” says Stuart Binstock, CFMA’s CEO.

[基础设施法]为某些公司削减了两种方式。巴苏认为，虽然许多人受益于他们已经很瘦的劳动力的另一种需求来源。“他们看到他们的工人变得更加昂贵，现在的费用……随着他们被吸引到公共部门时，加速的速度将更快。”ENR调查的近85％的公司预计薪水将在2022新利18备用年上涨。

材料costs remain another issue: 97% of respondents to the confidence survey said they are seeing upward price pressure on materials.

巴苏说：“ 2021年的经济学家中的关键字是'短暂的。“通货膨胀比许多经济学家想到的一年都更加坚持。”Binstock说，大约有48％的CFMA调查受访者表示，他们认为材料价格从现在开始每年稍微糟糕或明显差。

最终，这些增加的成本需要将其传递给所有者，这可能会减少新利18备用官网登录需求。“当交付建筑服务的成本如此之高时，会导致一些项目所有者说，‘我的Pro Forma不起作用，因为这些投标太高了。我不会前进，’”巴苏说。他认为，所有者和建筑公司的重点已成为成本遏制。

据巴苏说，设计工作基本上已经反弹。“Many architects are telling me that they’re as busy now as they were pre-pandemic, and they were pretty busy pre-pandemic,” he says, noting that the Architectural Billings Index has been above the 50-point threshold, which indicates billings growth, for nine straight months.

The question is if and when those designs will be built by contractors downstream. “I think that conversion rate probably is lower now than it historically or typically is,” he says.

Despite the many challenges that the industry faces, it’s important to note that both confidence surveys still see a growing market.

Binstock说：“当您查看他们回到一年的时间时，您会得到完全不同的看法。”其业务状况指数上涨了53％。“几乎是，您要测量什么？”他说。