Biggest Construction Industry Trends, Pitfalls, and Hotspots of 2023
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What is The Network?
What will be the biggest construction industry trends of 2023?
We surveyed thousands of customers from The Network, Trimble Viewpoint’s active user community.
They told us what construction industry challenges might be coming, which key metrics they’re watching this year, and how they expect business to compare to last year.
The anticipated #1 problem, which 61% of our construction software users agreed will continue in 2023, is hiring and labor shortages.
But despite the labor shortage, almost half (46%) expect to hire more, 41% plan to hire about the same, and just 13% expect to hire less.
What do you think? Do you expect the same trends as The Network, in 2023?
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Good news for the industry in 2023
Despite hiring woes, construction professionals found reasons to be optimistic going into 2023: Namely, that there will be a lot more work to go around, if only workers can be found to do the job.
What good news is trending?
- Project starts and backlogs are expected to increase (45%) or stay the same (42%)
- Over half (57%) confident in their organization’s cybersecurity measures
- Most (33%) think digital technologies that connect workflows and solve margin challenges will be the biggest trend in 2023
Additionally, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will be pumping $1.2 trillion ($550 billion above baseline spending) into American infrastructure over the next 10-12 years.
“I expect a big pickup in 2023 in infrastructure investment as money from the IIJA starts to be awarded and contractors get to work on those projects,” according to Ken Simonson, chief economist at Associated General Contractors of America. “Also continuing pickup in manufacturing construction,” he says in Construction Dive, “along with alternative energy projects funded by tax credits and other incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act.”
What are some other construction hot spots in the coming year?
Other Construction Hotspots for 2023
It’s no surprise that technology-related topics top the list. As your business grows, construction projects get more complex and the stakes get higher—the pressure is on to gain efficiencies. And digital automation is usually the answer.
Other construction trends the pros expect in 2023:
- data accessibility and mobility (20%)
- data security and cybersecurity (17%)
- predictive analytics and forecasting/ modeling tools (13%)
- AI or other tech-enabled automation (10%)
- HR management solutions (7%)
- Cashflow and project starts are other metrics Trimble Viewpoint Network members are keeping their eyes on.
It’s important to stay connected to your professional community for business and social reasons. In addition to the networking and shop talk, it’s an opportunity to compare your processes and workflows to others’.
In addition to The Network community who provided these insightful stats, the Trimble Viewpoint Quarterly Metrics Index is another way we keep our finger on the pulse of the construction community. We analyze our own anonymized customer data and dig deep into construction project statistics, contract values, hiring metrics, and cash flows trends.
What are you looking forward to (and worried about) going into 2023? Download the survey infographic, sign up for the Metrics Index, and see how your business compares!
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