Some factors that could impact construction businesses in the future.
Not all of the changes are welcome. Maybe you're thinking that skilled labor is a lot harder to come by. You probably don't have much use for reverse auction bidding or the myriad new government regulations that were enacted over those years. Perhaps there's a tinge of nostalgia for an era when you actually could get away from the job for a while without a cell phone constantly snapping you back to it.
Now, try to project yourself 16 years into the future and compare what your contracting business might be like compared to today. The Mechanical Contracting Education and Research Foundation (MCERF) - the educational arm of one of the finest trade associations in the construction industry, the Mechanical Contractors Association of America - has done just that. A few months ago, MCERF published a study titled “Five Key Trends for the Future of the Mechanical Contracting Industry,” using the year 2020 as a target. Although aimed at some of the nation's top commercial-industrial mechanical contractors, the findings are pertinent to most construction-related businesses.