Economic Forecast | Charlotte-Lee-Collier

David Dale
President, Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. | Commercial construction

Company: David Dale says his commercial construction company likely will post revenues of $50 million, roughly the same as 2015. “We're doing a lot more infrastructure, aviation, heavy civil work than we have traditionally in our mix,” Dale says. “We've always done that, but our balance is a little more there because there's still a lot of commercial property that hasn't been absorbed.” Existing buildings need to fill up with new tenants paying higher rents to justify new construction. “We're doing a lot of tenant finish and build-out work.”

Industry: The commercial construction industry has recovered from the collapse. “I would think everyone is doing fairly well and the folks who are left are very busy,” Dale says. That has put pressure on the availability and cost of labor for commercial contractors, especially if they're competing with active homebuilders. “Masons and drywallers are in very high demand right now because we share the same resources with the residential guys,” Dale says. Meanwhile, subcontractors are reluctant to hire more people because memories of the downturn remain fresh in their minds, he says.