On March 16, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation released the March Monthly Confidence Index for the $1 trillion equipment finance industry. March’s index is 50.3, a decrease from the February index of 51.8.

Construction firms added 24,000 employees in February, as hefty pay raises for hourly workers enabled the industry to increase employment more steeply than other sectors, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data.

As part of Women in Construction Week, the National Center for Construction Education & Research conducted interviews with 176 tradeswomen and analyzed 770 responses to a survey directed to women in the industry.

Total construction spending decreased by 0.1 percent in January, as declines in single-family homebuilding and public construction offset marginal gains from private nonresidential construction, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America March 1 of new federal data.

Billd’s National Subcontractor Market Report survey showed that materials and labor cost subcontractors $97 billion more than expected last year, according to Zachary Phillips of Construction Dive. Billd is a construction financial support company based in Austin, Texas.

On Feb. 22, the experts at Zonda released the New Home Market Update report for January 2023.

On Friday, March 24, Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 837, a companion to Senate Bill 236. This major legislative action will bring about tort reform in Florida.

Contractors encountered a wide range of price changes for key construction inputs in January, with steep increases for fuel, concrete and gypsum products offsetting sharp declines in lumber and steel prices, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released Feb. 16.

The industrial insulation market size is projected to reach $5 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 5.4 percent from 2022. The power industry had the largest market share in 2021, followed by the oil & petrochemical segment during the forecast period.