Concrete is one of the most important and prevalent resources used in construction today. It is the most widely used construction material in the world and provides immense versatility in its application. We see concrete all around us in skyscrapers, dams, bridges, sidewalks and everything in between.
When starting a project there are so many unknowns. You have a plan but there are still a lot of questions left to answer. What is the best use for the site? Which construction methods make the most sense? Exactly how much is this all going to cost? How long will it be before you can break ground? And how long will construction take?
The financing of Construction & Development (“C&D”) projects is extremely risky. During the Great Recession, delinquency rates for C&D loans averaged 18% – more than 3x the typical rate for commercial mortgages during the same period1. As a result, probabilities of default and the losses resulting from those defaults were also the worst in the industry2. Add in the costs of protracted workouts and the negative impacts for lenders and investors were magnified even further.
It is a sad fact that construction results in unbelievable amounts of waste. This stream of waste is not just from new construction, but also from the remodeling and repurposing of existing structures. Moreover, it is reported that the construction industry has experienced a 15% decrease in the productivity of workers in the last 50 years. Statistics like this provide an opportunity to rethink how we look at construction and the best way to accomplish the goals of (1) decreasing environmental impacts and (2) shortening project timelines while, (3) benefiting the bottom line.
