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Christopher DeBruyn
Apr 25, 20232 min read
Construction cost inflation is getting boring again...
Now what am I going to write about? Greater market inflation continues to struggle several points above the FED's preferred 3% target,...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Jan 9, 20232 min read
Inflation in construction versus the CPI – Right Now.
Interesting study in how data can mislead, or fail to provide complete information: The rate of inflation, both in the greater economy as...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Dec 14, 20222 min read
What’s next in Construction Escalation?
After a few years of insanely bad news for construction costs – 20% annual inflation, supply chain disruptions, and lead times longer...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Aug 9, 20221 min read
Top of the Market to you!
Frequently conversations regarding construction cost these days contain the phrase – “How much higher can it go?” It does seem as if...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Aug 9, 20222 min read
How bad is it out there?
Digging around in the data vaults of the FED, just a quick look at the annual (trailing) change in construction jobs since 1940 – The war...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Jun 21, 20222 min read
CPI Versus Construction cost increases
It’s in all the news, inflation is back. Construction firms have lived with inflation all along – when your margin is 3%, and...
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Christopher DeBruyn
May 23, 20221 min read
Is Amazon leading the way to construction de-escalation?
An article by Joe Gordon for Bisnow in San Francisco, discusses the state of the market in warehouse space, at least as far as it relates...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Mar 29, 20222 min read
Death and Taxes
To quote Ben Franklin, and others, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. For 2022, you might want...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Oct 26, 20211 min read
What is going on in the pre-engineered building (PEMB) marketplace!
Careful with your Value Engineering! Reports from manufacturers indicate 50 week or longer lead times, and pricing at double or more of ...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Sep 28, 20212 min read
What does a drought in Brazil have to do with the price of construction in Philadelphia?
Bloomberg has a feature story about the drought in South America and trivializes the impacts with the lede “No country on Earth puts more...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Sep 22, 20212 min read
What’s going on in Residential?
During the pandemic, almost every discussion about how busy the markets are, has had one large footnote: Residential is going...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Sep 16, 20212 min read
Material Escalation – Big actors in late 2021
I hear lots of talk in the marketplace about escalation, anecdotes about troubled buy-outs, supply delays and general chaos. Anecdotes...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Sep 16, 20212 min read
Be like the bug - Coronavirus strategies for construction
The virus has some strategies that make it a fearsome competitor. Are any of these strategies useful for our industry? 1) Strike...
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Christopher DeBruyn
May 26, 20214 min read
Construction Inflation May 2021 - "It's Baa-ak!"
So far this week, (it is Tuesday as I write this), I have had 3 in-depth conversations about construction inflation. Topics ranged from...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Apr 26, 20212 min read
Lumber throwing a wrench in construction budgets!
COVID, and a massive increase in demand for residential housing is having a new impact in the industry - I've heard multiple anecdotes...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Apr 7, 20212 min read
Good news on construction jobs tempered by harsh realities
ENR https://www.enr.com/articles/51519-construction-jobs-jump-by-110000-in-march?oly_enc_id=3536I0798201B9X notes a nice bump in...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Apr 5, 20212 min read
COVID and Renewable Energy - What happened?
What happened with renewable energy while we’ve all been cocooning in our respective Covid pods? The big picture is that total energy use...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Dec 16, 20202 min read
How Bonding Surety firms drive construction staffing.
It may seem unlikely, but one major factor in construction manager staffing is the requirements that surety firms place on construction...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Dec 9, 20201 min read
How does the booming stock market help the man in the street?
Giving away federal funds to support companies, that results in record breaking stock markets, even while the companies being valued so...
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Christopher DeBruyn
Dec 3, 20202 min read
Get out your sunscreen! UVC is coming!
There is some new action in the disinfection front – several options are being promoted for in-room UVC disinfection, which is exciting...
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