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Top Metal Builders 2017 May 1, 2018

That answer far outstripped all of the other answers, which were relatively even. Lack of financing for projects, managing company growth, dealing with increased competition, facing a difficult regulatory environment, tough market conditions, bad weather and rising material costs all were distant seconds to the labor shortage issue.

Of those, several are directly related to growth and improved construction activity. Surprisingly, though, of our 100 builders in the Top Metal Builders of 2017, we saw a modest 3.4 percent increase in their average tonnage over 2016 and a 10.8 percent increase in square footage.

Compared to last year’s respondents, the average tonnage and square footage declined. That’s not unusual as companies shift in and out of the listing. There is, however, a clear trend line upward since 2010 that both reflects the growth of the market and, perhaps, indicates some consolidation among the larger players.

The metal building industry at the contractor level is still a fragmented industry, though, and no major player has grabbed significant market share. By that measure, the industry matches almost every other construction industry in the United States.

One thing we should be keeping an eye on going forward is the interference of weather in the construction process. Six percent of our respondents indicated weather was their biggest challenge in 2017. Add that to another few listed under other who identified keeping a schedule as their largest issue. The weather in 2017 included a hurricane and flooding in Houston and unseasonably cold temperatures in the northern United States and Canada. Meteorologists and climate scientists predict that the severity of weather events will only increase in power, making construction schedules even more tenuous. That challenge may not rise to the level of the labor shortage, but it could become more prevalent.