Shield Wall Media recently closed its mid-year Construction Business Climate Survey. Despite all the doom and gloom we hear from news outlets, the results are surprisingly good.
We divided respondents into three categories: Building Contractors, Roofing Contractors, and Building Material Dealers or Manufacturers. We believe you’ll find the results of interest.
How does your year over year gross sales, including backlog (Q1) compare to 2021?
81% of Building Material Dealers/Manufacturers report results that are up compared to Q1 2021.
67% of respondents are up across all business types.
How will your Q2 year over year gross sales, including backlog, compare to 2021? (best guess)
88% of Building Material Dealers/Manufacturers estimate Q2 sales will be the same or better than 2021.
81% across all sectors report gross sales will be the same or better.
How does your units sold year over year, including backlog (Q1) compare to 2021?
75% of Dealers/Manufacturers report unit sales being the same or better than Q1 of last year.
76% are the same or better across all business types, while 24% are down slightly across all business types.
2022 General Outlook
56% of Dealers/Manufacturers estimate 2022 will close better than 2021.
54% of respondents across all categories believe 2022 will be better than 2021.
What challenge is exerting the greatest impact on your business?
#1 Challenge: Shortage of workers is the #1 challenge for Building Contractors and Dealers/Distributors/Manufacturers.
The #1 challenge for Roofing Contractors: It was a tie between material shortages and material
costs.
How does your overall Q1 profitability compare to 2021?
75% of Dealers and Manufacturers report profitability to be the same or better when compared to Q1 2021.
86% across all business types report profitability to be the same or better. (2021 was a record year for many!)
How will your overall profitability in Q2 compare to 2021? (best guess)
75% of Dealers/Manufacturers estimate profitability will be the same or better.
90% of respondents (across all categories) are the same or more profitable than they were in Q2 2021.
+ Comparing the numbers for Q1, Q2 and 2022 as a whole (best guess) sentiment drops slightly for Q2 and slightly more for the year as a whole.
Sentiment seems to be declining, but is still generally positive.
Don’t miss: Construction Business Outlook: From the Perspective of Suppliers
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