Gilbane Building Co. clearly has an interest in trying to understand where construction economics are heading, and its 2012 preview is not very encouraging.

"The construction market recovery will lag the overall economic recovery and will take much longer due to the severity of current conditions," the construction giant said in the 46-page report that is available for download through its website.

The report notes that 16 percent of respondents in an Associated General Contractors survey said they expected business to improve next year.

Among the positive items Gilbane considered were an increase in construction starts in the past five months and increased construction spending during 2010.

On the negative side were big cutbacks in government spending on projects and a largely negative Architectural Building Index since March.

The company warned, too, that recent economic swings have made it unwise to use indexes to project costs anymore. The potential for errors "cannot be emphasized strongly enough," the report stated.