Commercial Building Contractors NAICS 2362

Oct 4, 2025 - Crane Counts Drop

• Rider Levett Bucknall’s latest Crane Count reveals a 44% drop in crane activity across 16 North American cities, signaling a slowdown in construction momentum. While cities including Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco saw increases, major markets such as New York and Los Angeles experienced sharp declines due to project completions, financing constraints, and high interest rates. The report highlights a fragmented landscape where rising national construction costs contrast with uneven regional activity. This unevenness suggests the sector is in transition, with developers cautiously navigating economic pressures and shifting demand.
• Demand for building design services rose slightly in August from the prior month, but design demand remained in negative territory, according to a September report by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The AIA’s Architecture Billing Index (ABI) rose to 47.2 compared to July’s reading of 46.2. Any reading of 50 or more indicates growth in architectural billings. The score for new project inquiries dropped to 50.3 in August from 53.4 in July, and the index for the value of new design contracts decreased from 47.9 to 47.2. August marked the 18th consecutive month of decline for new design contracts, the longest slump in the 15 years the AIA has collected data. However, the AIA’s Chief Economist, Kermit Baker said, "While business conditions remained soft at architecture firms nationally, there are signs that the downturn may be bottoming out. Inquiries for new projects have increased four straight months, and billings both at firms with a multifamily or commercial/industrial specialization are beginning to stabilize."

• In September, OpenAI announced $1 trillion in investments for building out data centers to power increasing global demand for its ChatGPT generative AI chatbot, according to The Wall Street Journal. OpenAI estimates it will need 20 gigawatts of computing power as the number of weekly global ChatGPT users has climbed to more than 700 million. At a cost of $50 billion per gigawatt, OpenAI, and its partners Oracle and Japan-based Softbank, will need to spend at least $1 trillion for computing infrastructure. In addition to a Central Park-sized computing warehouse complex under construction near Abilene, Texas, OpenAI is building a similar site in New Mexico with Oracle. Other, smaller complexes will be in Austin, Texas, and Lordstown, Ohio. Another site in an as-yet-unnamed location in the Midwest is also in the works.
• Construction spending for nonresidential buildings is expected to remain sluggish in 2025 and 2026, according to the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) most recent Consensus Construction Forecast. Total spending for nonresidential building construction is expected to rise 1.7% in 2025 and 2% in 2026 after increasing 2% in 2024. For the next two years, growth will be led by data centers. Spending on institutional projects should remain steady as they are less susceptible to cyclical factors. AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker said, “A multitude of factors are preventing substantive growth in nonresidential construction. Stubbornly high long-term interest rates, falling consumer confidence scores, rising tariff rates for many inputs to construction and construction labor shortages exacerbated by restrictive immigration policies are limiting prospects for positive sustained growth.”