This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to beautiful Charlevoix, Michigan — that’s about a four-hour drive North of the metro-Detroit area. Totally worth it — summer and fall are both great times to visit! We drove up to attend a friend’s wedding. Unfortunately, the wedding date was held during an annual summer festival in Charlevoix, and hotel rooms were in high demand.

ASA is part a coalition of organizations throughout the manufacturing supply chain urging Congress to advance a bold, long-term infrastructure bill to address the nation’s longstanding infrastructure needs, and to provide much-needed stability and certainty for the sector during this critical time.

In last month’s column, I wrote about how military strategy can help businesses learn to navigate the current chaotic times. 

Dodge Data & Analytics released its 2020 Dodge Construction Outlook. The report predicts that total U.S. construction starts will slip to $776 billion in 2020, a decline of 4% from the 2019 estimated level of activity.

BlueTarp's supplemental contractor survey revealed that nearly 25% of contractors thought the economy would decline in some way within the next 12 months, an increase from 16.3% last quarter.

The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year.

Public works and housing retreat, while nonresidential building stabilizes.

BlueTarp Financial releases its 2018 Q4 Building Supply Index.

Crumbling infrastructure and workforce shortage are top concerns for industry.