Ailing Economy Could Signal Future Slowdown in Once-Booming Sector

摘要

While construction throughout the general building market continues unabated due to strong demand in hospitality, higher education and medical sectors for more capacity and greener technology, contractors are dropping hints that the boom times may be ending. Contractors say a slowdown is on the horizon, ushered in by careening energy and materials costs, an ongoing shortage of labor, tightened financing by lenders and the dynamics of the global economy. "The economy is in some kind of transition," says Mike Bolen, chairman and CEO at St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos. "This is the tail end of the biggest building boom ever." Judging by many contractors' future projects, the boom's momentum could wane in the next year or two, Bolen says. "We are now figuring' out what this downturn will look like."