Laws, Tariffs, and the Political Environment are Affecting Construction
What’s on the horizon for the construction industry? New laws and political agendas are constantly affecting the way that the industry has to be run, the projects available, and the amount of money that construction workers are given by the government.
The future of the industry is bright, though. Construction is about 14.7% of the GDP. And $57 trillion dollars in infrastructure needs to be created by 2030 to keep up with the GDP’s global growth. Yeah, that’s trillion.
Bills, Bills, Bills
Changes in Washington affect all of us, and the construction industry is no different. And, speaking of infrastructure – all eyes are currently on the potential for an infrastructure bill. Why? The bill
has been long awaited to improve roads and bridges. And to make roads and bridges, construction needs to happen.
But first, there needs to be money to finance the project. It’s thought that a gas tax will be able to finance the bill, but because of the cost to taxpayers, a new federal infrastructure bill is probably a year down the road. Literally.
Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs?
In 2018, more than half of general contractors thought that they’d be highly affected by tariffs. Mostly, they thought that’d they’d be impacted by higher prices of materials. Even materials that weren’t going to be affected by tariffs were also causing concern, because prices are on the rise across the board.
In anticipation of goods from China rising in price because of tariffs, suppliers are already raising the prices of their goods. This could not only affect the construction industry, but the strength of the economy. The construction industry is a rapidly changing and constantly updating field, so the preparation on part of suppliers is a smart move.
The Construction Environment
Spread in pockets across the country, the construction industry is facing a shortage of skilled labor. In urban areas, the labor shortage is more of an issue. In rural areas, there’s more of a supply of workers.
The reason for the shortage? Young people don’t want to do the job. Workers who have been in the industry for life are starting to retire, and the changeover isn’t looking good when it comes to replacing those jobs. Contractors are being forced to offer additional training opportunities, but top talent often gets stolen by competing companies. Many say that more technology needs to be developed and adopted before more people will be drawn to a job in construction.
If you need to finance your construction equipment with a loan, now’s the time to do it. There’s no red tape here. Just a quick, flexible, and simple process. That’s what you’ll get when you go with TopMark Funding for your heavy equipment financing. You can get funded in 24 hours or less. The world of politics and laws is constantly changing, but the expertise at TopMark always stays the same.
