It has been just over a year since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. In the days and weeks that followed, we began to get a sense of how it would affect our lives as countries around the world began issuing orders to stay home, urging people not to leave their homes except to complete the most necessary responsibilities and activities.
Ова принуди многу бизниси да мора да ги прекинат преоцесите на работа и да се прилагодат кон некој нов начин на функционирање.
While ongoing construction projects continued, with improved workplace safety protocols, projects in the design phase were severely affected as projects began to be delayed or put on hold.
Questions and uncertainty about how long the pandemic will last and what economic impact it will cause will make many homeowners rethink whether to start new projects or continue where they left off.
Where is the construction industry a year later? As mass vaccination continues and states begin to reduce the constraints associated with the pandemic, it is felt that we are slowly making progress towards what our newcomer might call normal.
Here is a brief overview of the overall impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry and how things stand today.
Increasing prices for construction materials
Despite the pandemic, construction costs have risen in 2020. Total construction costs last year were $ 1.43 trillion, an increase of 4.8% over the total construction costs in 2019. The increase in construction costs last year was mostly due to a nearly 12% increase in housing construction – to $ 813.9 billion in 2020.
Employment in the construction industry
Despite the large numbers in construction, employment received a huge blow immediately after the onset of the pandemic. The construction industry registered a decline in employment in March and April 2020. The factors that influenced the decline in employment in this period are the cessation of work activities, as well as new and upcoming projects that have been postponed or put on hold. The good news is that employment in construction will increase in 2021 as opposed to 2020 and still tend to grow.
Construction Technology Adoption
The construction industry recorded rapid growth and adoption of construction technology in 2020. According to expert analyzes, the rate of technology adoption that normally took you three years has been reached in just nine months from 2020.
All of this makes sense because contractors are turning to technology to stay connected to customers, to stay productive and efficient remotely.
