Commercial Construction Confidence Rises

After confidence in the commercial construction industry dipped slightly in the first quarter of this year, a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report shows that it rebounded over the summer. The organization's Commercial Construction Index is a measurement of how confident contractors are about their business.

One of its key measures is work backlog. The average backlog increased to more than 10 months in the second quarter of the year. This indicates that most contractors have enough in their pipeline to ensure they will have plenty of work well into next year.

Other key takeaways from the report:

1. More than 70 percent of large contractors (those with more than $100 million in annual revenues) are confident next year will provide "necessary business opportunities"
2. Thirty percent of respondents to the survey expect an increase in profit margins in 2020
3. Sixty percent of contractors expect to increase their workforce next year