construction Archives - Page 2 of 2

Commercial Construction Soars in September

William Attardi on November 1, 2025

Total construction starts were up +3.1% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.26 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nonresidential building starts rose by +11.9%, residential starts improved +3.6%, and nonbuilding starts fell -6.2% over the month. On a year-to-date basis through September, total construction starts were up +3.5% from last year. Nonresidential starts were up +5%, residential starts were down -4.2% and nonbuilding starts were +10.8% higher over the same period. For the 12 months ending Sept. 2025, total construction starts were up +6.7% from the 12 months ending Sept. 2024. Residential starts were down -1.4%, nonresidential starts increased 6.8%, and nonbuilding starts were up +16.7% over the same period. Commercial Construction Soars in September | Electrical Wholesaling

Teching Up: The Future Is Here, and a Technologist Can Help You Embrace It by Jared Christman

William Attardi on October 15, 2025

Without someone on your team to evaluate, pilot and implement new software tools in real world conditions, you risk trading money for more confusion. Enter the construction technologist, a role rapidly moving from luxury to necessity in today’s fast-paced electrical contracting industry. Enter the construction technologist, a role rapidly moving from luxury to necessity in today’s fast-paced electrical contracting industry. Technologists help contractors navigate the sea of innovations, avoid costly missteps and align technology adoption with actual workflows on-site and in the office. There are several ways a technologist can contribute to your work.

Tech scouting and filtering
Process mapping
Champion identification
Testing and return on investment evaluation
Implementation and training

Teching Up: The future is here, and a technologist can help you embrace it | Jared Christman – Electrical Contractor Magazine

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto: Integrating Robots and Reality Capture by Jared Christman

William Attardi on August 8, 2025

Integration of robotics into reality capture has arrived in the construction industry. You can see it on projects where it is either walking on four legs or rolling around printing layout. Robotics is the next step in the construction technology revolution—SLAM and deck printing are a couple examples out there today. Take the robot called “Spot.” The Waltham, Mass.-based company has teamed up with Trimble, Westminster, Colo., to introduce the quadruped robot. Outfitted with a LiDAR scanner, Spot uses SLAM to autonomously navigate active job sites, capturing 3D data while avoiding obstacles in real time. According to reporting by Geo Week News, several contractors are using Spot for routine site documentation, progress tracking and as-built verification. This in turn is freeing up field staff for higher-value tasks. On a large social media tech campus project, Spot reduced manual photo documentation time by 60% and flagged several floor boxes that were misplaced compared to the model before slab pour, saving thousands in rework. Then there’s SitePrint by HP, Palo Alto, Calif. SitePrint is a robotic layout printer that uses SLAM to align with digital models and contract documents that accurately prints layout directly on the deck. Electrical contractors have begun using it for conduit paths, box locations, layout points and wall stub-outs. By combining SLAM-enabled robotics with BIM data, electrical contractors are simplifying the jump from design to field layout. Rather than replacing skilled labor, this technology streamlines it, which in turn frees up electricians to focus on running crews, installation, quality control and high-value tasks. Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto: Integrating Robots and Reality Capture – Electrical Contractor Magazine

Data Center Construction Continues to Grow by Tom Zind

William Attardi on July 7, 2025

How do you paint a rosy picture for a construction market sector that’s been in the dumps and shows scant signs of a quick change of fortune? There’s one way: Stretch the definition, and throw in a category that’s come so far so fast that standard market indices haven’t been able to catch up. That’s what FMI Corp., does in the second-quarter installment of its 2025 North American Engineering and Construction Industry Outlook Reasonably, it lumps data centers into the office component of its non-residential construction analysis, yielding a bullish four-year forecast for the sector that beats nine of 10 others. Citing forecasts of data center demand growing 34% in 2025 and 18% next year, FMI sees office construction growing every year between 2026 and 2029 at an average of about 7% annually. Data centers may be the office of the future, housing the infrastructure enabling higher productivity that could be a driving force for the economy for decades to come. Data Center Construction Continues to Grow | EC&M

Office Conversions Set To Outpace New Construction in 2025

William Attardi on June 5, 2025

More than 23M square feet of office space is planned for conversion or demolition this year, exceeding the amount of new construction for the first time in years, according to CBRE. By the end of this year, 23.3 million square feet of space is slated for demolition or conversion to other uses, according to Conversions & Demolitions Reducing U.S. Office Supply, CBRE’s analysis of office-market activity across the largest 58 U.S. markets. In comparison, developers are projected to complete construction of 12.7 million square feet of office space in those markets in 2025. Construction completions have steadily declined from 51.2 million square feet in 2018 to 25 million last year and the anticipated 12.7 million this year. Meanwhile, conversions alone – factoring out demolition – have increased from 5.5 million square feet in 2018 to an anticipated 12.8 million square feet this year. Developers currently have another 81 million square feet of office space in the pipeline for conversion to other uses in the coming years. Top 10 markets at: Office Conversions Set To Outpace New Construction In 2025

Data Centers: More Power to Them by Jim Lucy

William Attardi on April 1, 2025

2025’s surge in data center construction will be fueled by the greater demands of AI (artificial intelligence) for electrical power. The explosive growth in data center construction and the related increases in demand for the electrical system installation and supply and logistical services they require is quite unlike anything the electrical business has ever seen. Over the years there’s been booms in speculative office construction, energy-efficient lighting retrofits and the installation of power quality industrial automation products. But the dollars being spent on new data centers – and the electrical construction materials that help power them – may very well be unmatched. This all means big business for electrical contractors, design engineers and other electrical professionals involved with data center construction. Data Centers: More Power to Them | Electrical Wholesaling

Data Center Boom Impacting the Lighting Industry by David Shiller

William Attardi on March 14, 2025

The data center sector has exploded into a major force in construction, fueled by the increasing demands of artificial intelligence. This surge is significantly boosting nonresidential construction planning, with projections indicating it could add substantially to U.S. economic growth in the coming years. This data center construction boom hasn’t gone unnoticed in the lighting industry. Some manufacturers are beefing up their product lines for the data center vertical. Some are increasing their marketing to position themselves as leaders in the data center lighting vertical, and some manufacturers are hiring specification salespeople to specialize in just the data center spec market. Major tech companies are leading the data center expansion with massive investments. Data Center Boom Impacting The Lighting Industry | LightNOW

AI Is Coming for Your Job…Posting by Aaron Szymanski

William Attardi on March 3, 2025

The construction industry is struggling to keep up with the rate of change occurring in society today. To truly embrace innovation, the industry must recognize that AI isn’t working against you. It’s an agent that works with you and for you — completing monotonous tasks that humans aren’t generally good at, such as calculation and data storage. Electrical contractors have a unique opportunity to lead the way in AI adoption, and the tools available today only scratch the surface of AI’s potential. By embracing this transformative technology, electrical contractors can improve their efficiency and productivity and inspire other trades to follow suit. The future of construction isn’t about choosing between human expertise and artificial intelligence; it’s about combining both to build better, faster, and more sustainably than ever before. AI Isn’t Taking Your Electrical Job | EC&M