Historically, average square footage in the NAHB survey has tended to move in the same direction as in the Census Bureau’s series with a lag, and with wider fluctuations, as you would expect from the smaller sample size. However, in July 2014, monthly valuation for manufacturing construction was back up to $58 billion.The oil and natural gas boom in such states as North Dakota and Texas has made energy, on the other hand, perhaps the most recession-proof industry: It seems to know no direction but up. Home sales are expected to decline slightly versus last year. The authors looked at growth in the construction industry through the Great Recession as well as composite growth rates for the industry’s 10 most-related and … “Yet, there is reason to believe that the pool of potential homebuyers may not shrink as much as the jobless claims and unemployment rate may suggest.” While fewer homes are being built, many people are opting to renovate and improve their homes—increasing their homes’ value, while also driving business to these niche firms.While health care, manufacturing, education and housing construction all remain in flux, the energy sector has been the most promising—but only time will tell if that is another bubble waiting to burst. On the 2014 list, that number had fallen to 198.What’s interesting, however, is that while in 2014 Inc. recognizes fewer total rapidly growing construction firms, the ones it does include are growing faster than ever. The average lot size was in the territory of 20,000 to 22,000 square feet in 2009 and 2011, but dropped to 14,359 in 2013. The construction industry was undoubtedly one of the hardest-hit by the Great Recession. Though monthly valuation of public health care construction has remained relatively constant, monthly valuation of private health care construction—which typically accounts for between two-thirds and three-fourths of all health care construction monthly valuations—has steadily declined since its November 2009 peak ($40 billion). In 2013, NAHB developed a different construction cost breakdown that more closely resembles the steps that builders take when building a home. Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.Nearly a decade after the Great Recession stalled construction nationwide, the industry is roaring back: In 43 states, construction is now contributing more to the economy than it did in 2010, creating a demand for skilled workers and transforming skylines from Boston to Oklahoma City.Overall, the construction industry’s impact on U.S. gross domestic product has grown by more than 21 percent since its low point in 2011, according to a Stateline analysis of inflation-adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.This year, construction’s contribution to the U.S. economy The only states that haven’t experienced construction-related economic growth since 2010 are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico and Wyoming.Three of the seven states — Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming — have economies that are closely tied to slumping energy markets, and Alabama, Alaska, Maine, Mississippi and New Mexico have experienced slow population growth.“Population growth accounts for a great deal of construction work,” said Alex Carrick, chief economist for ConstructConnect, an organization of construction professionals.Arizona has had relatively robust population growth and it isn’t heavily reliant on energy, but it has been hampered by the Phoenix housing market, which more than other cities was overbuilt in the housing bubble, Carrick said. Here are five strategies to deal with the next recession. “Going forward, we anticipate house prices to continue to rise in the months ahead, while existing home sales may struggle to gain momentum due to the limited inventory of homes available for sale.” “But it’s true that construction is a place where a guy doesn’t have to go to college to make a six-figure income.”Some builders are calling for states to create or expand vocational training programs as a way to produce more skilled construction workers, many of whom retired or moved on to other professions when the industry In a 2015 report, the AGC complained that the national decline in manufacturing has prompted many high schools to “The consequence has been the overwhelming impression among youths, their parents and teachers that career and technical education is unacceptable, despite the fact that construction jobs often pay better than many post-college options,” the organization argued while Oklahoma City is having its biggest year for downtown construction since 1930, said Steve Lackmeyer, the author of five books about the history of the city.The new construction, which includes apartments and a proposed convention center, helped boost Even though two-thirds of Iowa counties are losing population, cities like Des Moines, Iowa City and Ames are seeing strong demand for new housing, Swenson said.Fertilizer plants fueled by natural gas also are under construction, as are wind farms and ethanol plants.On the other side of the country in Boston, “one of the three biggest building booms in the city’s history” is underway, according to Nick Martin of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.Martin said the $6 billion in development his agency has approved this year is comparable to the boom of the 1970s and the giant landfill project that created the city’s famous Back Bay neighborhood in the 19th century.Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.