The Associated Builders and Contractors Backlog Indicator rose to 8.8 months in April, according to respondents to a survey by the association. The portfolio increased by 0.2 months monthly and increased by 0.1 months year-on-year.
“While the backlog increased to a 10-month high in April, recent industry momentum is highly concentrated among a subset of contractors,” ABC chief economist Anirban Basu said in a statement. Basu points to the “data center construction boom” as the main catalyst for the increase, noting that “42 percent of contractors with more than $100 million in annual revenue are under contract to work on data center projects.” Additionally, he says, contractors with data center projects report an average of 12.2 months behind schedule, while those without projects in the industry show a notably shorter backlog of 8.3 months.
By company size, companies with revenues greater than $100 million report a backlog of 14.2 months in April, up 1.7% from March and 2.2% from April 2025. Companies with revenues reaching $50-100 million and those in the $30-50 million range had revenues of $9.1 and $8.8 million respectively, while the companies had revenue of less than $30 million, respectively, in April. backlog, reaching 7.3 months.
“Despite divergent levels of backlog, ABC’s contractor members of all sizes remain confident about the outlook,” Basu said. ABC’s construction confidence index, also recently released for April, increased in all three categories (sales, profit margins and personnel) compared to March 2026 and April 2025.
“Only 1 in 5 expect their profit margins to shrink over the next six months, the lowest amount since January 2025, and contractors are equally upbeat about their sales and staffing levels,” Basu said. “The result is that weak construction spending data, the recent rise in oil prices and escalating emerging materials prices have not dampened confidence among ABC members.”
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