The Construction Economist — October 4, 2026
Transit and bridge funds lapse as IIJA extends · Construction job openings slip · Q2 GDP at 2.2% · DBE final rule · $15B Iowa steel mill
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The Construction Economist — September 26, 2026
Architecture billings stay below 50 as firms turn gloomier · Construction starts drop 24.8% · The House takes up data-center power costs · California rewrites data-center siting · Mass timber saves $2M
The Construction Economist — September 20, 2026
The first rate hike since 2023 · The 2027 dot moves half a point · Input prices up 8.9% · Builder confidence falls to 32 · EPA guts power-plant carbon rules
The Construction Economist — September 12, 2026
Cement comes off the tariff list after 24 days · Nonresidential planning goes flat · 200,000 work permits lapse · Steel shipments slip from June · A narrower WOTUS rule
The Construction Economist — September 5, 2026
Data centers are the only thing growing · Residential spending falls a fourth straight month · The 2026 forecast turns negative · Job openings near a two-year high · A power-equipment import ban
The Construction Economist — August 29, 2026
Construction input costs up 7.1% in a year · The 50% Canada duty takes effect · GDP growth slows to 1.5% · The 2027 codes open a lane for off-site construction · Chinese drones meet tariffs
The Construction Economist — August 22, 2026
Architecture billings extend the longest slump on record · Housing starts fall 12.4% in July · A 50% duty on Canadian imports lands Saturday · Pennsylvania hands data center vetoes to towns · A 10-gigawatt campus rises on a Cold War uranium site
The Construction Economist — August 15, 2026
Backlog round-trips the whole 2026 run-up · The 8.0 average hides a 3.9-month split · July inflation eases for a second month · ERCOT sets a peak-demand record as generation lags · Jobs growth keeps outrunning volume
The Construction Economist — August 8, 2026
Senate stopgap lets the infrastructure law's advance appropriations lapse · Construction job openings reach 305,000 · $20B in climate grants unblocked · JLL sees escalation running through H2 · Texas adopts the 2024 I-Codes
The Construction Economist — July 31, 2026
Turner's cost index climbs 5.15% on labor · Q2 GDP slows to 1.5% · Congress moves to extend the IIJA · Data centers outbid home builders for land · Steel imports fall as the overcapacity fight sharpens
The Construction Economist — July 25, 2026
Alphabet's Tuesday capex hike pushes the Big Four toward ~$725B for 2026 · Data centers become construction's largest commercial segment · The billings pipeline stays frozen at 47.3 — a 41-month low · Tariffs push the commodity index to a 2026 high · The 500,000-worker gap meets ICE · Bouygues buys
The Construction Economist — July 17, 2026
The June cost "dip" was all oil — core materials kept rising · New York halts new large data centers · Micron pours at $100B fab · Water bills advance · Single-family permits soften
The Construction Economist — July 11, 2026
Job ads hit a 10-month high while hiring and quitting freeze · The trade deficit widens $23B · Payrolls add 57K as construction unemployment climbs · Steel ships higher, sawmills shrink · A Davis-Bacon ruling holds
The Construction Economist — July 6, 2026
Construction job openings hit a 10-month high · May spending inches up · USMCA heads to annual review · DOE pulls decades of energy-code findings · Digital Realty's $3.5B Virginia buy
The Construction Economist — June 26, 2026
Architecture billings sink to 44.5, the lowest since January · Microsoft and Chevron plan a 2GW West Texas data center · Trump blocks the Road to Housing Act · steel imports jump 11.2% · the Bills open a $2.1B stadium
The Construction Economist — June 19, 2026
Construction backlog hits a near three-year high as contractor confidence slips · Amazon plans a $10B Missouri data center campus · housing starts crater 15% · the Fed holds at 3.75% · Google.org puts $50M into the trades
The Construction Economist — June 12, 2026
The House votes to fast-track first union contracts · Meta bets $115M on construction craft labor · Microsoft proposes who pays for data center grid costs · Bechtel mobilizes at Micron's $100B megafab · inflation tops 4% and regulation adds $131K per new home
The Construction Economist — June 5, 2026
The help-wanted sign stays up — construction job openings rose 25,000 in April even as the billion-dollar awards keep landing. Plus a $3.5B California high-speed rail pick, a record $16B data center in Michigan, single-family building slips in every region, Brazil tariffs on the table, and a permitt
The Construction Economist — May 30, 2026
The data center boom continues to show up everywhere — Turner clears 10, billion-dollar jobs, ERCOT trims its summer demand forecast on the promise data centers will power down, and ENR warns the claims are piling up just as fast as the megawatts. Plus steel imports climb, the House moves on housing
The Construction Economist — May 23, 2026
Input costs post fastest start in three years · Switchgear lead times stall data centers · Architecture billings still under the growth line · USDOT maps a five-year freight strategy · ConTech startups raise $87M for AI tools