The move illustrates the whipsaw cadence of construction since the beginning of the pandemic, when new projects have stumbled to get out of the gate due to supply chain and labor challenges but the demand to build has remained high.
It also marks a U-turn from last month’s backlog report, when October numbers showed the largest monthly decline since July 2020 in the commercial and institutional category. At that time, Basu said October’s slump indicated an emerging weakness in the nonresidential construction sector.
