From Mark Smith. Advocate, California Builders Alliance
Multifamily housing starts rose 13.5% in March from a year earlier, with 446,000 units in buildings with five or more units, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau. However, multifamily building permits fell 23.5% from February and 5.3% from March 2025, signaling potential future slowdown.
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Full Story: Construction Dive |
Construction Safety Week 2026, themed "All In Together," highlights the need for collective efforts to address safety gaps in the industry. Initiatives include DPR Construction's language barrier program, Turner Construction's AI-powered safety tool SafeT Coach, and the McElhattan Foundation's Zero Electrocution Challenge. A report from STACK reveals that 68% of workers feel unsafe on the job, underscoring the importance of these efforts.
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Full Story: SmartBrief/Infrastructure |
The final 20% of construction projects takes significantly longer to complete, according to an analysis by Buildots. The analysis of 102 global projects shows that the median construction activity spends 27% of its duration on the last 20% of the scope, with some activities taking up to 50% more time. Activities that require access to multiple locations, such as sprinkler installation and floor tiling, tend to have longer tails, while discrete installations are completed faster.
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Full Story: Construction Briefing |
The US is experiencing a surge in water infrastructure projects. The EPA estimates that more than $630 billion will be needed over the next 20 years, with wastewater systems requiring a significant portion.
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Full Story: Smart Water Magazine |
The top headlines in April highlighted data center opposition overtaking wind farm resistance as the top infrastructure siting challenge, even as utilities began planning $1.4 trillion in grid upgrades to meet AI-driven electricity demand and data center construction pipelines roughly doubled. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz logistics logjam and Iran conflict spiked materials costs and driving project abandonments, squeezing a construction economy already stretched thin by the competing demands of clean energy deadlines and the AI buildout.
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Health care construction is evolving, driven by digital adoption, sustainability and labor pressures. Gordian reports that the average cost per square foot for hospital construction has risen by more than 25% since 2021, with a sharp increase in early 2026 following a period of stability.
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Full Story: Building Design+Construction |
Losses from stolen and misplaced equipment cost large contractors millions annually, with smaller, everyday items responsible for most of the financial impact, according to a report by Samsara. Organizations without asset-tracking systems lose an average of $13.2 million a year, with 72% of theft and loss costs linked to smaller equipment such as tools, generators, sensors and components.
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Full Story: Construction Briefing |
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OSHA, Construction Safety Week form partnership for worker health |
About 1,000 construction professionals gathered on the National Mall as part of Construction Safety Week to promote worker health and safety. During the event, Construction Safety Week and OSHA signed a partnership to prevent serious injuries and fatalities and address mental health.
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Full Story: Construction Dive |
Construction Safety Week 2026 has highlighted the need for better integration of existing technologies such as lidar, reality capture and AI to enhance jobsite safety. While significant progress has been made in reducing fatalities, the next major leap in safety will come from connecting these tools effectively, writes Steve Smith of Bluebeam. "The issue is not whether the tools exist, or whether they work. The issue is whether they connect," Smith writes.
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Full Story: Geo Week News |
Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., have introduced the Build America, Buy America Compliance Act, which would require federal agencies to fully comply with the Build America, Buy America Act for projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The bill would require agencies to submit annual reports detailing their compliance and publish them for transparency. The bill has been endorsed by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the United Steelworkers.
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Full Story: Construction Dive |
Morgan Stanley led financial advisers in the construction sector in the first quarter, topping the GlobalData league table with $23.7 billion in advised deals. Houlihan Lokey was the leader in terms of volume, advising on nine deals. Eastdil Secured and Goldman Sachs shared second place by value, with each advising on $13.9 billion of deals.
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Full Story: World Construction Network |
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Vancouver pilot shows potential for construction plastic recycling |
Light House has reported positive results from the Construction Plastics Initiative, a 14-month pilot program in Metro Vancouver that collected 38,000 kilograms of plastic from eight construction sites and demonstrated the potential for recovery and reuse. Partnering with firms such as Aecon and EllisDon, the initiative processed plastics into recycled pellets for new building materials.
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Full Story: Recycling Product News |
Euna Solutions has introduced Solicitation Advisor, an AI-powered feature within its Euna Procurement platform that reviews drafts of requests for proposals and suggests improvements before publication. The tool aims to reduce ambiguity, conflicting criteria and mismatches, enhancing the efficiency of the procurement process.
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Full Story: Construction Dive |
Global banks are refining their financing of large-scale data centre projects as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates. By sharing portions of large loans with a broader investor base and using established risk-transfer tools, lenders are managing concentrations responsibly while preserving balance-sheet capacity for continued growth. The approach highlights banks' efforts to support the expanding AI ecosystem in a sustainable, disciplined way.
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Full Story: Financial Times |
San Diego International Airport has opened the first phase of a renovated Terminal 1, with a second phase underway and set for completion in early 2028. The project will add 11 gates, nine restaurants and three shops, with a connector to Terminal 2 expected by 2029.
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Los Angeles World Airports CEO John Ackerman says the SkyLink people mover at Los Angeles International Airport should be operational this year after a three-year delay. The $3.34 billion project has faced delays due to disputes between LAWA and the LAX Integrated Express Solutions construction consortium. Ackerman also discusses terminal upgrades and efforts to boost passenger numbers.
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Full Story: Los Angeles Business Journal |
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Mark Smith
Advocate
California Builders Alliance
5370 Elvas Avenue ǀ Sacramento, CA 95819
Cell: 916.335.5072
Email: mark.smith@calbuilders.org
Email: mark@smithpolicygroup.com
