Dodge Construction Network’s 2022 forecast

By |  January 7, 2022
Headshot: Richard Branch

Branch

According to Branch, the nonresidential construction sector experienced a solid recovery in 2021, gaining back more than half of the $28 billion it lost in construction starts in 2020 for a total of $17 billion in growth.

On top of that, Dodge anticipates a $15 billion increase for nonresidential in 2022. Branch says warehouse construction is driving the growth, with companies such as Amazon continuing to build warehouses across the U.S.

Between 2011 and 2022’s projections, Dodge says the warehouse market will have increased more than 10-fold from $4.9 billion in 2011 to an estimated $52.8 billion in 2022.

On a list of the top 10 warehouse projects that broke ground in 2021, Amazon has seven – including the top three. Altogether, the top 10 warehouse projects through September totaled nearly $3.3 billion.

“Warehouse starts continued to stagger the imagination,” Branch says. “I’ve run out of superlatives in terms of how to describe the warehouse sector, particularly when you look at it over a longer timeframe.”

Chance for nonbuilding bounce back

The construction sector that is perhaps poised for some of the most impactful growth in the coming years is nonbuilding, according to Dodge.

This is squarely due to passage of IIJA. Because of the bill’s passage, Dodge projects total nonbuilding value to increase 32.5 percent year over year from 2021 to 2026.

Had the bill not passed, Dodge says growth would be less than half of that at 14.9 percent.

Of the $550 billion in new spending the infrastructure bill provides between 2022 and 2026, $110 billion is allocated to roads, bridges and road safety. With the funding, Dodge estimates 6 percent total growth in highway and bridge construction starts for 2022 – a $4.8 billion increase – with bridges accounting for $1.1 billion of that total and streets and highways accounting for the remaining $3.7 billion.

Total nonbuilding funding is also expected to jump 6 percent in 2022, going from $194 billion in 2021 to an estimated $205.8 billion in 2022.

Branch anticipates states will use the funds to tackle larger projects first.

“If you’re Poughkeepsie, New York, and you need to redo a bridge or build a new bridge or road, if there’s going to be additional funds out there for the government, you’re probably going to want to tick off those bigger projects first,” Branch says. “So I do think those infrastructure dollars will go more to the larger side of the construction projects, rather than the middle or the small.”

Jack Kopanski

About the Author:

Jack Kopanski is the Managing Editor of Pit & Quarry and Editor-in-Chief of Portable Plants. Kopanski can be reached at 216-706-3756 or jkopanski@northcoastmedia.net.

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