Contractors Continue To Face Myriad Challenges In 2023

Contractors throughout the U.S. and abroad have faced a host of challenges over the past three years. A cross-market boom in construction that had fueled the AEC industry and changed skylines worldwide for more than a decade came to an abrupt halt three years ago, as the first wave of COVID-19 swept across the globe, stopping or severely restricting construction. Those early shutdowns soon gave way to unprecedented supply-chain shortages and skyrocketing costs for such construction staples as steel, concrete and lumber. Simultaneously, the construction industry, like other market sectors, began experiencing historic labor shortages that made staffing newly revived projects extremely difficult. Now, inflation and rising interest rates have cooled an already struggling real estate development market, leading owners to rethink, retool or shelve planned projects, and those already underway are experiencing a host of labor, delay and cost-related issues.