Credit is Toughest Challenge, Sustainability Big, AGC Members Say

The credit crisis that mired many projects in 2008 is the biggest challenge facing  the members of  the Associated General Contractors of America, according to  a survey AGC conducted of its members.

Credit far surpassed any other impediments in front of AGC members, with 83 percent responding  that they saw it as their biggest challenge. The next closest was labor at eight percent, followed by fuel prices (four percent) and global warming (three percent).

Two-thirds predicted growth  in sustainability work, with forty-one percent saying that "sustainable practices will be big" in the next year and 25 percent predicting that sustainability would be moderate. Less than half 19 percent the same as this year and 12 percent said it  would be minimal.

Forty-one percent said that it would be three to five years before construction would boom again, while  36% said it would take another one to two years for things to rebound. Thirteen percent  said  it would take more than five years and only nine percent  said  that a recovery would happen  in less than a year.

"The credit crisis that mired many projects in 2008 will likely remain an issue in 2009, according to financial experts, but AGC won't let that defeat them," wrote Jennifer Hicks, lead editor of AGC's Smartbrief enewsletter. "They're dedicated to continuing their 90-year history of legislative work across the aisle to promote the needs of the nation's construction industry. More than likely this will include work on pensions, immigration and long-term programs to invest in America's infrastructure, such as the transportation reauthorization, clean water infrastructure and investment in federal buildings.

"Another positive note is the growing interest in sustainable building and retrofitting of large complexes to save on overall costs," Hicks wrote.

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