The FMI/CMAA 11th Annual Owners Survey was conducted in an atmosphere of considerable disagreement over whether the national economy is recovering and if so, how quickly. A major federal infusion of stimulus funding in 2009-2010 was meant to soften the impact of the recession, as well as accelerate the recovery through investment in infrastructure and other resources. Fear of a double-dip recession exists while talk of further stimulus spending, specifically for infrastructure, is inciting optimism. We can assume the construction economy will recover eventually - perhaps this year, perhaps next. But what then? What fundamental things will have changed in our business that will not "get back to normal?".
Key findings of the report include:
- Owners have taken drastic steps to reduce staff and expense, including attrition (38%), layoffs (32%), early retirements (19%), and mandated unpaid time off (11%).
- Hiring plans are frozen (60% of owners reporting they are not hiring) and will not resume anytime soon. But, when it does resume, it will take some new forms including hiring from design, CM, or construction firms (15%), hiring less expensive staff (10%), and retaining staff beyond expected retirement dates (7%).
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Overworked staffs result in more errors and document quality problems. Owners report that the quality of design documents worsened in the last two years (34%), as has the quality of
construction documents (33%), external construction management (16%) and construction execution (18%).
- Design-bid-build continues to hold sway as the most used project delivery method, with 55% of owners describing their execution approach as design-bid-build.
- Use of program management has doubled since 2007 and accounts for 10% of reported capital spend.
