This is one of my favorite times of the year. Yes, there are holidays with festive events to enjoy with family and friends, but there is another reason this time of year is so special. It is a time for reflection on the year that just passed—and to look forward to the year to come. It is a time for goal setting and dreaming big.
For today’s blog, let’s look back at 2025 to see what shaped the past year—and let’s look forward to 2026 to what is coming in the year ahead, with a few new industry reports.
Looking Back on 2025
As we look back on 2025, we see the Skanska Fall 2025 Construction Market Trends report highlighted that while total construction starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of roughly $1.26 trillion, cost pressures from tariffs and ongoing supply-chain disruptions shaped the market in meaningful ways. Materials such as steel, copper, and aluminum continued seeing price escalation and longer lead times, forcing teams across the industry to rethink budgets, sequencing, and procurement strategies.
Labor shortages amplified those challenges in the past year. With an estimated shortfall of about 450,000 workers and tighter immigration policies, securing skilled labor required even more foresight, flexibility, and creativity.
Many construction companies needed to build additional contingencies, strengthening partnerships with trade partners, and relying heavily on early coordination to avoid surprises. Looking back, 2025 was truly a year that pushed the construction industry to be resilient—planning smarter, communicating earlier, and adapting faster. If there was one word to best sum up 2025, it would be resilient.
Looking ahead to 2026
Looking ahead to 2026, the JLL U.S. Construction Perspective gives us reason for cautious optimism. After a 4.7% drop in real construction spending in 2025, JLL projects a modest 0.4% growth in 2026. That growth may be small, but it signals a market beginning to stabilize.
Still, we know rising labor and material costs will remain a reality, largely driven by persistent labor shortages and policy-driven cost pressures. These factors remind us construction strategies must continue evolving.
What becomes clear from JLL’s insights is 2026 will reward teams that prioritize agility, early engagement, and local decision-making. Approaches such as early contractor involvement, design-assist, modularization, and more regionally attuned procurement strategies will be essential—not optional. Construction clients may need greater flexibility in timelines and budgets, and the industry will need to stay proactive in presenting solutions that balance ambition with practical realities.
Here at Constructech, we would add technology will be central to all of this. Technologies like digital twin, AI (artificial intelligence), the IoT (Internet of Things), and more are no longer nice-to-have technologies, they are must-have imperatives that construction companies must consider in the year ahead.
As we move into the new year, there is a lot of hope for the construction industry. 2026 offers us an opportunity to build in ways that are smarter, more resilient, and more collaborative. How will your company respond? How are you reflecting on what was in 2025—and what is coming in the year ahead in 2026? Now is certainly the most wonderful time of the year to ponder that.
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