Dive Brief:

• Gilbane Building Co. sees a generally good year for the construction industry in 2014, though infrastructure spending remains low and the workforce remains small.
• Construction growth in 2014, outside of nonbuilding infrastructure, should be more consistent than it was this year, and that should allow builders and contractors to increase their margins on projects because building prices have been rising faster than materials prices.
• The report sees labor and materials costs rising 4% to 7% in 2014 and 5% to 8% in 2015.

Dive Insight:

Ed Zarenski, the Gilbane veteran who writes the report that is distributed free of charge, said he expects that final numbers from this year will show nonresidential building picking up and that will extend into 2014. He also foresees residential building continuing its advance, and there is likely to be a labor shortage and losses in productivity when both sectors are advancing apace.