Dive Brief:

• The 2014 Dodge Construction Outlook that McGraw-Hill Construction issued at an executive conference Friday foresees construction starts going up 9% from 2013, reaching a total value of $555 billion.
• The forecast is based housing and commercial building leading the charge and is optimistic despite non-building construction likely being sluggish.
• Also cooked into the forecast is U.S. economic growth of 2.5% to 3% in 2014, and that is based on an expectation that the federal government will be able top manage itself without shutdowns.

Dive Insight:

Even though home building is not happening at the level it did before the recession, the Dodge forecast is banking on residential construction to lead the charge next year and commercial space to have what Robert Murray, vice president of economic affairs at McGraw Hill Construction, called “hesitant upper movement." The expectations for general economic growth is dependent on things going in a "more orderly manner" than the budget shutdown, which along with uncertainty about the debt has pulled the growth forecast for 2013 down to 1.6%.