2021 Construction Industry Trends

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted a number of businesses across a variety of industries, forcing them to rethink their daily operations to ensure the safety of their employees and the general public. This is no different for construction firms, where COVID-19 has led to project delays, significant job loss and unprecedented uncertainty.

While construction firms and the country at large will undoubtedly have to navigate the difficult economic and health concerns created by the COVID-19 pandemic moving into the new year, there are a number of other industry trends on the horizon for 2021. Many of these trends could affect businesses long term, making it all the more important for firms to stay abreast of where the industry is heading.

According to Dodge Data & Analytics’ 2021 Dodge Construction Outlook, total U.S. construction starts are expected to increase by 4% in 2021 to $771 billion. This is in spite of the fact that—given the impact of COVID-19—2020 was wrought with uncertainty, which greatly impacted overall construction starts. In fact, from June to July of 2020, construction starts were down by 31%.