Associated builders and contractors said that on September 16, their construction backlog indicator fell to 8.55 months in August 8.8 months in July, from a member survey on August 20 in September. 3. The measure is kept above the reading of 8.2 months from August 2024.
“Backlog immersion observed in August is not surprising,” said Anirban Basu, an ABC’s chief economist, who cited continuous decrease in non -residential construction and weakness in commercial and institutional work. He said that the heavy industry and infrastructure are still resistant, while private sector projects are struggling with cost pressures, uncertainty of policies and shortages of labor.
Regions, sectors see unequal performance
The ABC building backlog indicator fell up to 8.5 months in August 2025, below July 8.8, but went up from 8.2 a year earlier. Infrastructure and heavy industrial sectors gained gain, while small businesses reported weaker pipes.
The size of the company continued to promote differences: contractors with less than $ 30 million in annual revenue reported 7.15 months in comparison with 13.5 months to companies over $ 100 million. ABC said that the backlog of the largest contractors has increased for three consecutive months and is now at the highest level in more than two years.
Regionally, the south continued to direct all regions with 10.0 months of work under contract, followed by the Midwest at 8.34 months, the north -east at 7.97 months and the West at 6.63 months.
By market segment, commercial and institutional projects were averaged 8.32 months in August, while heavy industrialist was 11.0 months and infrastructure at 11.16 months.
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In the face of economic uncertainty, the feeling of the contractor showed little change. The ABC construction trust rate showed sales expectations at 60.4 in August, which were customized at 59.9 and a profit margins at 51.9, each above the 50 threshold threshold that the signals provide for a growth.
Underlying answers indicated that 57% of contractors expect sales to increase, and 9% predicted a “large” increase, while one in five expect to decrease.
In the workforce, almost half of the expected increases and 12% expect cuts. For profit margins, 35% expect gains, 44% foresee any change and 25% of predictional deterioration.
Basu said that about a quarter of the contractors reported a delay or cancellation of the rates related project, with similar actions that cite funding and work problems. These impacts, he said, caused “how long this optimism persists” in the face of these head heads is still uncertain.
ABC added that the average of 8.5 months is approximately in line with the tendency of the index since the beginning of 2023, although below the post-pandemic peak greater than 9 months recorded in mid-2012. The Association publishes data on time series and methodology notes with each launch.
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