Managers of equipment fleets valued at $1 million or less are riding high. According to the Construction Equipment Annual Report survey, half of them have enjoyed thriving business for four years. Again this year, more than half of the firms expect very good or excellent business. Contract-volume growth has exceeded their expectations every year since 1996, and more firms forecast revenue growth this year than last. Their optimism seems justified, considering the economic consistency of the recent past. There's lots of work, and project financing and equipment financing is relatively easy to get. There are two tangible reasons not to expect small firms' bubble to burst. First, the economy is forecast to remain solid this year—growing slow enough to contain inflation and strong enough to produce plenty of opportunity for well-run companies. Second, the boom has supplied a lot of small firms with the horsepower to assure that they are, indeed, well run.
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