"Nonresidential spending decreased in February despite inflationary pressures that should have driven it higher," said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "True, nonresidential spending is up 6.2% year over year, but given the significance of construction materials inflation, spending has almost certainly declined in real terms."

“Contractors continue to signal that they are searching far and wide for additional workers,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “With more workers reentering the labor market, job openings continue to translate into employment growth. Given elevated backlog and the expectation that demand for services will remain high, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, construction employment is poised to grow further this year."

Five Star Franchising, a service-based franchise platform company backed by Princeton Equity Group, has announced the addition of both 1-800-Packouts and 1-800-Textiles to its brand. The franchise said the opportunities this will bring to the restoration industry are unmatched.

The goals of the partnership are to improve the mental health of construction workers through effective suicide prevention education, intervention and postvention strategies; to encourage, equip and empower mental health champions in the workforce; and to introduce collaboration between ABC and AFSP chapters nationwide.

Locally owned and operated by Mohamed Hassan and Hassan Nasr, 1-800 Water Damage of Greater Toledo will be providing local home and business owners with services including water and flood damage restoration, mold remediation, sewage cleanup, fire and smoke damage restoration, critical cleaning and sanitizing.

Phoenix Restoration Equipment, a division of Therma-Stor, has partnered with UW-Madison to work on specific enhancements to their DryLINK ecosystem of connected IoT products. DryLINK is an IoT platform used in the water damage restoration market.

Through this partnership, the IICRC is teaming with more than 100 other leading organizations to serve as the voice of the certification community with respect to state-level legislative or regulatory actions that would affect the value of certifications.  

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its U.S. Spring Outlook, and for the second year in a row, forecasters predict prolonged, persistent drought in the West where below-average precipitation is most likely.

Pearlman Group, a multi-channel developer and specialty distributor of supplies, tools and equipment used in cleaning and restoration, has acquired CleanSource, a distributor of cleaning and restoration supplies to the Carolinas.

“It will get worse before it gets better,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Not only has Russia’s assault on democratic Ukraine created supply challenges in a number of categories, including oil and natural gas, but the reemergence of COVID-19 in parts of Asia and Europe is also poised to produce additional impacts."