ConstructConnect Releases Nonresidential Construction Starts: August 2024

Power Infrastructure Hides Otherwise Solid Month of Construction Activity

Cincinnati, Ohio, August 19, 2024—ConstructConnect, a leading provider of software solutions for the preconstruction industry, announced today that the July 2024 volume of Total Nonresidential construction starts—the sum of Nonresidential Building and Heavy Engineering—was $56.1 billion, a decrease of $12.0 billion, or -17.6%, when compared to a revised June reading of $68.1 billion.

Year-to-date Nonresidential Building construction starts totaled $212.4 billion through July, down 11.6% from the comparable period of a year ago. July’s month-on-month results were underwhelming due in part to a $13.3 billion decline in spending in electric power infrastructure.

Category Performance Mixed

Month-on-month results for July contained many bright spots, with 13 of the 34 sub-categories tracked by ConstructConnect reporting gains. Chief Economist Michael Guckes noted among the monthly leaders were Sports and Convention Centers (+263%) and Manufacturing (+135%). This was closely followed by bridges (+123%), laboratories (+80%), and libraries and museums (+57%). Power infrastructure fell 96% MoM from last month’s record-high reading. The remaining categories in the bottom 5 were Offices (-54%), Military (-53%), Religious (-48%) and Elementary (-47%).  

Construction Hiring Accelerated

For a third sequential month the level of total construction hiring accelerated. The total number of US construction jobs increased by 25,000 in July, representing a 130% increase over the level of construction jobs growth in the same month one year ago and a 25% increase from a month ago. 

Read the Construction Economy Snapshot for more details, including regional starts, trend graphs, and analysis.

About ConstructConnect

Construction Starts Here™ at ConstructConnect, where our mission is to help the construction industry start every project on a solid foundation. A leading provider of software solutions for the preconstruction industry, ConstructConnect empowers commercial construction firms to streamline their workflows and maximize productivity. ConstructConnect operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000.