미 건설현장의 코로나 팬데믹 영향 VIDEO: Survey Reveals the Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Contractors

Survey Reveals the Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Contractors

September 22, 2020 Shane Hedmond

For the past six months, we’ve known the construction industry In the US has been highly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but how much? A new survey conducted by Autodesk and AGC of America is giving us a deeper look into the impacts so far.

 

Just over 2000 firms responded to the survey, which was completed between August 4 and 26 of 2020. More than half of the respondents were involved in building construction, 25% in highway and transportation, and 23% in both federal construction projects and utility infrastructure. 66% of companies that completed the survey perform less than $50MM in projects annually, 28% perform between $50.1 and $500MM, and 6% perform over $500MM.

미 건설현장의 코로나 팬데믹 영향     지난 6개월 동안 미국의 건설업계가 코로나바이러스 대유행의 영향을 많이 받고 있는 것으로 알고 있었는데, 얼마나? 오토데스크와 미국의 AGC가 실시한 새로운 설문조사는 우리에게 지금까지의 영향에 대해 더 깊이 있게 알려주고 있다. 2000개 이상의 기업들이 2020년 8월 4일에서 26일 사이에 이 조사에 응답했다. 응답자 중 절반 이상이 건축 건설에, 고속도로와 교통에 25%, 연방 건설 프로젝트와 공공 기반 시설 모두에 23%가 참여했다. 설문조사를 완료한 기업의 66%가 연간 50백만불 미만, 28%는 50.1~500백만불 미만, 6%는 500백만불 이상의 성과를 냈다. 이번 조사 결과는 지연되거나 취소된 사업이 상당 부분 있었고, 노동 수요가 여전히 많으며, 기술 사용의 증가가 있었고, 여전히 앞으로 나아가는 불확실성이 많다는 등 주요 돌파구를 제공했다. 건설 프로젝트의 지연 및 취소 모든 회사가 코로나 대유행으로 인한 일정상 영향을 보고한 것은 아니지만, 66%의 응답자들은 그들의 프로젝트가 모두 중단, 연기 또는 취소되었다고 말했다. 또한 44%는 현재 진행 중인 프로젝트가 예상보다 오래 걸렸다고 답했으며, 또 다른 32%는 예상보다 높은 비용을 보고했다. 이러한 증가와 지연은 사회적 거리 설정 및 기타 안전 주의사항 증가, 인력 스케줄링 속도 조절 필요성, 특정 자재 비용 증가, 장비 및 자재 공급 지연을 초래하는 공장 가동 중단 등을 포함한 다양한 요인 때문일 수 있다. 조사 결과 연간 5000만 달러 이하의 업무를 수행하는 계약업체들은 지연과 취소가 덜 된 것으로 나타났다. 여전히 높은 노동 수요 1년 전만큼 수요가 많지는 않았지만, 많은 회사들은 여전히 그들의 회사 내에서 시급과 월급 근로자를 채우기 위해 고군분투하고 있다고 보고했다. 기업의 52%가 시급제 충원 문제를 겪고 있다고 답한 반면 28%의 기업은 봉급제 충원에 어려움을 겪고 있다. 이 조사는 회사들이 노동자와 목수 그리고 크레인/중장비 운영자 자리를 채우는 데 가장 어려움을 겪고 있다는 결론을 내렸다. 조사에 응한 기업들은 32%가 매년 인원수 변동이 없다고 답했고, 또 다른 27%는 2019년 이후 실제로 직원을 충원했다. 또 응답자의 3분의 2 이상이 직원을 해고할 필요가 없다고 답했으며 38%가 기본급 인상률을 보였다. 황기철 콘페이퍼 에디터 Ki Chul Hwang Conpaper editor curator

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The results of the survey provided key takeaways, including that there have been a significant number of delayed or canceled projects, labor demand is still high, there has been an increase in the use of technology, and there is still a lot of uncertainty moving forward.

Delays and Cancellations

While not every firm has reported scheduling impacts due to the pandemic, 66% of respondents said that some of their projects have been halted, postponed, or canceled all together. Additionally, 44% said that their ongoing projects have taken longer than anticipated and another 32% have reported higher costs than anticipated. 

These increases and delays could be due to a variety of factors, including increased social distancing and other safety precautions, the need to pace out workforce scheduling, increased cost of certain materials, factory shutdowns causing delay in equipment and material delivery, among others.

According to the survey, the contractors who perform $50 million of work or less annually have experienced less delays and cancellations.

Levelset

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Labor Demands Remains High

While not as in high demand as a year ago, many firms reported still struggling to fill both hourly and salary positions within their company. 52% of firms said they are having trouble filling hourly jobs, while 28% of firms are having problems filling salaried positions. 

The survey concluded that firms are having the hardest time filling laborer, carpenter, and crane/heavy equipment operator positions.

32% the firms surveyed said that they have not seen any change in headcount year over year, while another 27% have actually added employees since 2019. In addition, over two-thirds of respondents said that did not have to furlough employees and 38% have increased base pay rate.

Increase in Technology Use

I have heard from many technology companies that they have either seen a large increase in usage of their software or an increase in customers and this survey also confirms that. 40% of respondents said they have added new technology during the pandemic, including project management, field collaboration, estimating, workforce management, and bidding programs. 

21% of companies have increased their use of virtual training using online video conferencing programs like Microsoft Teams or Zoom and 13% have added augmented/mixed/virtual reality training devices,

For Autodesk products specifically, they have seen a 350% global increase in new project creations within BIM 360 Design and PlanGrid safety reports have increased 273%.

Engineering News-Record

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Continued Uncertainty

It’s hard to tell how much longer we’ll be dealing with the effects of the pandemic and many contractors are unsure when they’ll be able to return to 2019 levels. The geographic area where the firms were located also varied the results, with 45% of contractors in the Northeast believing that it will take them  more than 6 months to recover, compared to 34% in the West, 35% in the South, and 42% in the Midwest.

55% of contractors are also calling for help from the federal government, not only to invest in public infrastructure and facilities, but also protection from liabilities resulting from exposure to COVID-19 on site. Another 41% believe that current unemployment laws are resulting in an additional barrier for people returning to work.

The Full Report

You can find the full report on the AGC of American website.  It’s broken down into many subcategories including Region, State, Union/Open Shop, Firm Size, and Project Type.

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