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5 hours ago
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Skanska CEO says its selective strategy reduces risk
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. Remaining selective and planning for risk have been key to Skanska's profitability. CEO Anders Danielsson said the firm has been more discerning about only taking on projects and clients in sectors where it has seen success in the past. 'We took important strategic positions some years ago to be more selective,' Danielsson told Construction Dive. 'We have the right team in place.' The chief of the Stockholm-based contractor spoke to analysts during a second quarter earnings call July 18, where the results showed that U.S. construction has continued to be the anchor of the firm's success. However, continued changes around tariffs have raised questions on pricing for materials, and that uncertainty has impacted project timelines and the ability for contractors to break ground. Danielsson said Skanska has seen minimal impact from the tariff policy thus far, and remained bullish for the future. In part, that success is due to sourcing U.S. materials, he said, noting he hasn't seen increased competition for those domestic products. headshot of Anders Danielsson 'We haven't seen a lot of [impact from tariffs], but we are careful to not to end up in a situation where we suffer from, like price increases,' Danielsson told Construction Dive after the call. 'And so we are very careful before we bid for a project, we secure the prices from our suppliers.' When price hikes do arise, Danielsson said Skanska has had success passing the difference back onto the client. As an example, he cited the firm successfully doing so when construction costs spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Priority sectors Within construction, the U.S. civil market remains one of the major success areas for Skanska. Danielsson anticipates 'strong demand for traditional infrastructure' in the states. He cited confidence for public funding to continue to flow to critical sectors such as schools, hospitals, airports and data centers. In recent earnings reports, a sticking point for the firm has been commercial property development, especially as workers in the U.S. largely continued to work from home following the pandemic. Though the firm's outlook on commercial development for the next 12 months remains weak, Danielsson said a shift to quality, where companies target nicer offices in more attractive areas, continues to show promise. 'I'm sure most companies want their employees back to office,' Danielsson said. 'So that trend will continue.'
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5 days ago
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Construction costs rise as tariff clock ticks
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Construction input prices ticked up 0.2% in June, driven by increases in key materials such as copper and fabricated structural metal products, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price Index data. Input costs now sit 2.1% higher overall and 2.5% higher for nonresidential construction compared to a year ago, according to the report. Through the first half of 2025, nonresidential prices climbed at a 6% annualized rate. The June data predates the steepest tariffs set to take effect Aug. 1, leaving contractors bracing for more volatility as additional duties loom. Dive Insight: Contractors absorbed another round of steady cost increases in June, even before the most aggressive tariffs take hold later this summer, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. Aluminum mill shapes climbed 6.3% over the past year, steel mill products rose 5.1% and lumber and wood products increased 4.8%, according to the report. More extreme increases hit certain structural steel components, including a 22.5% spike in fabricated metal for bridges and 8.3% for bar joists and rebar. 'The fact that construction materials prices are rising even before the steepest proposed tariffs have taken effect doesn't bode well for what will happen in August if the promised new tariffs are implemented,' said Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist. 'Rising construction costs and economic uncertainty are already causing some owners to put projects on hold, which will only get worse if costs jump again.' The Trump administration raised steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% last month and plans to impose a similar 50% duty on copper on Aug. 1. Broader import restrictions also still remain under consideration. At the same time, inflation appears once again to be gaining momentum. Core good prices, excluding automobiles, increased at their fastest pace since late 2021 in the June Consumer Price Index report, signaling additional risk for contractors on the horizon, said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. 'Nonresidential input price escalation has accelerated in 2025," said Basu. 'While it is unclear how and when trade policy will affect construction materials prices, the impact was evident in June's CPI release.' Nevertheless, Basu said many contractors remain upbeat about their margins. That outlook may reflect federal tax changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made 100% bonus depreciation permanent and helped offset some pressure from rising input costs. 'Economic uncertainty remains extraordinarily elevated,' said Basu. 'What is all but certain is that the Federal Reserve will not be cutting interest rates at its July meeting. Despite higher-for-longer interest rates and rising input prices, contractors remain relatively optimistic.' Still, AGC officials warn confidence may erode if tariff-driven increases persist. If costs spike too sharply, more developers may choose to delay or cancel projects outright, according to the report. 'The construction industry is poised to benefit from greater tax certainty as well as the administration's efforts to streamline permitting and reduce needless regulatory burdens,' said AGC CEO Jeffrey Shoaf in the release. 'Finding a way to provide greater certainty on materials prices is the best way to make sure the new tax and regulatory approach have the best possible impact on economic activity.' Recommended Reading Construction costs jump at a 6% annualized rate
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5 days ago
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Builders eye later-stage startups in funding ventures
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. When it comes to venture investing in construction, contractors have operated like they do in the field. Instead of looking at shiny new toys, they're deploying established methods to help turn a profit. This approach has emerged via two key trends: Builders are ramping up their own venture funding arms, and they're looking for startups that are commercial-ready, rather than starting out. Take DPR Construction. Its Redwood City, California, headquarters is located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Its inhouse investment arm, WND Ventures, has been active since 2015, according to its LinkedIn, and has put money toward established startups such as reality capture platform DroneDeploy, AI-based document tracking tool Trunk Tools and automated layout robot creator Dusty Robotics, according to the company's portfolio. Another contractor on the hunt for tech companies with a proven track record is Suffolk Technologies, the venture capital offshoot of Boston-based Suffolk. The firm runs its BOOST incubator program annually, tapping promising startups to deploy existing solutions on jobs while offering not only investments, but coaching from the inside out. To date, the cohort has featured 36 different startups, according to its website. Suffolk Technologies initially invests $100,000 on a post-money SAFE, or a Simple Agreement for Future Equity, which allows an investor to put money into a company and solidify the percentage it will own when that cash is converted to shares. Graduates of this program include San Francisco-based Canvas, which creates robots that help with the drywall process. The company, which focuses on drywall finishing, completed a $24 million Series B in April 2021, in which Suffolk Construction participated. Since then, Canvas has partnered with drywall manufacturer USG and construction equipment manufacturer Hilti in 2023 and released a new robot in 2024. Then there is San Francisco-based Webcor, which is a new player on the block — the builder unveiled Webcor Ventures, its investment offshoot, on Nov. 15. It acquired a 10% stake in the Oakland, California-based modular construction firm R2 Building as its inaugural investment. And even Turner Construction, the New York City-based building giant, has gotten into the game, launching Turner Ventures on March 17. Anatomy of funding Funding rounds for startups can be thought of as a company's maturity indicator. A company raising a pre-seed funding round, for example, can be seen as in its infancy and is reflected as such in its investors — friends, family, supporters and the founders themselves. Additionally, some companies never extend beyond Seed funding into later rounds, like Series A. Percentage of built environment deals that were Series B funding rounds or later by year. This embedded content is not available in your region. By contrast, a company raising a later stage round, such as Series A or B, is more established and can attract the presence of other, larger investors. These more mature rounds also tend to attract more money. One example is Buildots, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, which delivers an AI-powered project tracking solution. Buildots completed a $45 million Series D funding round in May, which brought its total capital raised to $166 million. Indeed, even Series A rounds must demonstrate not just a great idea, but also a strong strategy to generate profit. This differs from Seed funding, where a company raises cash to finance its first steps, such as establishing a final product and its target demographic. Taken together, this means Series A funding also comes later in a firm's lifecycle. Corporate investments in Series A and later funding rounds take up larger share of investment volume This embedded content is not available in your region. 'I think startups are beginning to realize that there are no disruptions in this space,' said Dan Laboe, founding principal of Nymbl Ventures. 'It's more of a slow transformation into the future.' Over the last five years, these firms have matured during the COVID-19 pandemic, international conflicts and now, tariff-induced economic uncertainty. Observers say that over the next five years, new opportunities are available for firms — and contractors in particular — that put in the grunt work to identify solutions that are viable in the field today. Gonzalo Galindo, the head of Cemex Ventures, the contech-focused venture capital arm of Monterrey, Mexico-based building materials firm Cemex, said that firms that make it to the Series B stage have had to overcome obstacles already. 'It's a normal course of business, because many of the people in Series B have been, for a year to a year and a half, trying to raise money,' Galindo said. 'Those which are actually still alive are showing that they are resilient, that they know how to manage business, how to manage the funding, and certainly will be more prone to get money these days.' Builders seeking solutions Along the way, these tech survivors have established a toehold in construction by tailoring solutions to the industry's endemic challenges — labor shortages, environmental unpredictability and cash bottlenecks — that threaten to derail projects, either on the jobsite or before they even start. In the current environment, artificial intelligence reigns supreme as the most hyped technology. Additionally, robots, software platforms and physical equipment also play an important role on jobsites. For example, Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. used New York City-based Trunk Tools, which tracked around 21,000 discrete documents on the $456 million renovation of Milwaukee's Baird Center to save money. Another — Zachry Construction, based in San Antonio — used Menlo Park, California-based Alice Technologies to speed up its estimating process, which helped the builder save 28 days on a $149 million highway project's timeline. Follow the money The broader venture capital landscape is flush with cash — global venture funding reached $321 billion in 2024, doubling over the last decade, according to Crunchbase. However, contech makes up a more diminutive portion of the total — the sector managed to pull $3.1 billion in 2024 following a sharp downturn in 2023, according to analysis by Cemex Ventures. Nevertheless, construction, with its thin profit margins and a reputation for doing things the way they've always been done, has become a favorite target for startups looking to disrupt it, due to its well-known technology adoption gap. While that gap narrowed during the pandemic, critics say construction still lags far behind other industries in productivity gains due to integrating new technologies. With that in mind, experts say that though the sector is small, it is mighty, and ripe with opportunity for those who seek it. 'I think 2025 is going to be a transitional year for really understanding where the technology investments need to be made,' Nymbl's Laboe said. Bigger kids on the block This is where more mature startups can prove attractive to builders. Laboe said that the later-stage startups represented a quid pro quo relationship with builders, who can capitalize on the immediate rewards of a commercially ready product while boosting a startup's growth trajectory. It's also a reassuring sign for other builders if they can see a contractor investing in a product, Laboe said. 'These are long-standing industries and industry players. It takes a lot of time to gain their trust in this space,' Laboe explained. 'Having corporate backers in your investments gives them immediate economic reason to adopt the technology and help guide it toward the future.' Where contractors fit The question then becomes how are contractors getting involved? And how are they putting their money to use? Atul Khanzode, CTO at DPR Construction works with WND Ventures to seek out new solutions for the firm to leverage on its jobsites. He maintains that there's a time and place for the cash, as long as it's paired with boots-on-the-ground experience or even experimentation. For those firms that already have financial backing from strategic investors, WND and other contractor venture arms have an interesting value proposition beyond dollars: contractor input. 'They are very interested in our opinions about how useful their technology is or not, and want to partner with us even sooner,' Khanzode said. Wan Li Zhu, the co-founder and managing director of Suffolk Technologies, the venture capital offshoot of Boston-based Suffolk, offered a different sort of analysis. The firm's venture arm, Zhu said, sits at the intersection of the funding ecosystem to be an early-stage validator. Some startups, he said, come in with grand expectations. 'A lot of entrepreneurs that don't come from construction may have a perception that it's trillions of dollars of volume, so there must be a significant technology budget. That's often not the case, and the fragmentation is part of the friction as well,' Zhu pointed out. So, what's next? The simple answer, experts said, is more investor cash, particularly fueled by the AI boom, a sentiment that has borne fruit through the first quarter of 2025. Already, investors have pumped $521 million into AI-based contech offerings, the highest amount since 2021. And those investors seem to be willing to stay the course — a survey from Burlingame, California-based Zacua Ventures, an investor in the contech space, showed that few are backing down. Its data showed that 90% of surveyed contech investors intended to either increase, at 47%, or maintain, at 43%, their capital deployment in 2025. Percentage of surveyed investors that are planning to change their investments by year. This embedded content is not available in your region. 'This trend reflects the recovery in early-stage ConTech investment sentiment observed since the sharp decline in 2022, indicating growing confidence in the market's long-term potential,' the firm wrote in a summary of its results. Zhu, for his part, is bullish on innovation. 'I think the next five years are going to look very different from the last two decades in construction time,' Zhu said. 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5 days ago
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Chicago Fire FC unveils renderings for $650M stadium
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire FC has shared renderings and construction details of the team's $650 million stadium in the city's downtown, according to a news release. The new structure, designed by San Francisco-based architect Gensler and announced in early June, will seat approximately 22,000 fans, according to the news release. Around the stadium are riverfront views and open public plazas, alongside a variety of hospitality spaces and amenities. The stadium will be the catalyst for the first phase of The 78, a 62-acre master plan development for a walkable, pedestrian-oriented mixed-use campus designed by Gensler, according to the news release. Dive Insight: The 78 will feature a 24/7 district with new residential and commercial buildings, a half-mile riverwalk and a network of interconnected community spaces that support year-round programming. The initial phase will include restaurants, storefronts and a range of complementary spaces. The stadium will be entirely privately financed by the club's owner, Joe Mansueto, who is the executive chairman of Chicago-based financial services firm Morningstar. Seating options include 50 suites, more than 500 loge seats and 3,500 club seats, according to the franchise, including some with access to exclusive clubs-within-clubs. The seating bowl will be covered by an exposed steel canopy that the team claims will enhance the home-field advantage of Fire matches by directing light and crowd noise back to the pitch. Additionally, a dedicated supporter section will be built at the core of the stadium, per the release. The section is purpose-built to be loud with room for approximately 2,000 fans on safe-standing bleachers. The venue will also be designed to host international soccer matches, rugby matches, concerts, festivals and live performances, the club said in the release. Construction at The 78 is anticipated to begin by the beginning of 2026, and the new stadium is expected to open in 2028, according to the Chicago Fire. A contractor has not been announced.
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6 days ago
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Builders say One Big Beautiful Bill Act will fuel construction activity
This story was originally published on Construction Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Construction Dive newsletter. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is opening the door for increased construction investment, but it may also deepen existing challenges tied to labor and supply. Unlike the Inflation Reduction Act, which concentrated its support on clean energy, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act casts a wider net, said Vance Walter, senior director of legislative affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors. Its most transformative provisions include the restoration of 100% bonus depreciation, immediate expense of research and development costs and a permanent extension of the 20% pass-through deduction under Section 199A, said Deniz Mustafa, senior director of infrastructure finance at Associated General Contractors of America. These serve as boons for construction activity, according to industry sources. 'This also improves cash flow and makes it easier for contractors to replace aging equipment,' said Mustafa. 'In the construction industry, this means it is easier for companies to access equipment that is safer, cleaner and more efficient.' The changes are particularly significant for small and mid-sized contractors, where cash flow and tax predictability influence everything from equipment purchasing to hiring. 'Businesses can now immediately expense capital investments through 100% bonus depreciation,' said Walter. 'This will encourage firms to invest in new construction equipment and technologies, boosting safety, quality, productivity and economic growth.' Winning sectors The biggest potential winner may be manufacturing construction, said John Robbins, global head of enterprise project management at Turner & Townsend, the U.K.-based real estate and infrastructure consultancy. Expect more construction activity on automotive, food production and semiconductors, all of which now qualify for the 100% deduction, he said. 'I believe this will stimulate activity and investment with construction of new high-tech manufacturing. These tax enhancements should be very attractive and help greenlight shovels in the ground throughout the country,' said Robbins. 'Any newly built non-residential facility whose primary use is to manufacture, process or refine tangible goods can take the 100% deduction.' The provision covers a wide swath of domestic production, so long as projects break ground between January 2025 and December 2028, and are placed in service by 2031, said Robbins. This means projects that have been in a holding pattern or on the design boards — the Project Stress Index increased 11.4% in May — can 'now be accelerated,' according to Robbins. Beyond factory construction Other sectors likely to benefit include defense-related construction, air traffic control improvements and traditional energy production, said Jeff Urbanchuk, senior vice president at the American Council of Engineering Companies. The bill also sets aside nearly $50 billion for border security construction, he added. That funding could lead to new contracts across the southern U.S., potentially driving demand for firms with experience in civil and federal work. Projects tied to air traffic control and defense infrastructure may also open the door for specialty contractors and design firms, especially those with experience navigating federal contracts and military specs. Robbins added electric production, including zero-emission nuclear power, could also see renewed construction activity due to the broader capital-friendly structure of the bill. That may prompt developers to advance previously delayed or underfunded power generation work, said Urbanchuck. 'America's engineering firms are engaged across the domestic energy sector, designing systems that produce and transmit power generated from traditional, nuclear and renewable sources,' said Urbanchuck. 'We do believe the Big Beautiful Bill will lead to meaningful growth.' A rush to build But as more construction companies benefit from greater activity, pressure could build on labor and material pipelines already under strain, said Joseph Molloy, tax partner at Anchin, a New York City-based accounting, tax and advisory firm. 'The bill's emphasis on domestic sourcing and reshoring may increase demand for U.S.-based construction labor and materials,' said Molloy. '[That's] potentially intensifying workforce and supply chain pressures.' That strain may only increase as firms rush to break ground before other provisions phase out, said Robbins. For example, tax credits for energy-efficient buildings are set to expire after 2026, creating urgency for stalled or newly planned green developments. 'Timing and financing strategy now matter as much as project cost in maximizing the new law's benefits,' said Robbins. Enhanced incentives for projects in opportunity zones could also drive more construction in distressed communities, particularly in residential and mixed-use segments, he added. Yet, even with these provisions in play, long-term momentum still hinges on what comes next, said Urbanchuk. 'Overall, the Big Beautiful Bill is a step forward for our industry,' said Urbanchuk. 'Our attention now goes to what Congress is planning for the reauthorization of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is set to expire in September 2026.' Recommended Reading Tariffs keep contractors guessing on material costs
