America\u2019s broken construction industry is a big problem for Trump–The Empire State Building, finished in 1931, was erected in just 410 days. That same year construction began on the Hoover Dam. It was meant to take seven years, but was built in five. Such feats now seem hard to imagine. Last year half of America\u2019s construction firms reported that commercial projects they were working on had been delayed or abandoned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2008 Californian voters approved a high-speed-rail line connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, to be finished by 2020. It will be at least a decade late. America\u2019s inability to build is a problem for Donald Trump. Although he has again delayed levying \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs until August 1st, the president\u2019s commitment to reviving American manufacturing through protectionism is as strong as ever. But can the country build the factories, warehouses and bridges needed to reindustrialize, and do so quickly enough? And if the administration is to achieve its ambition to win the artificial-intelligence race, it will have to ramp up the construction of data centres and electrical infrastructure, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Demand for projects is certainly soaring. Turner Construction Company, America\u2019s largest commercial builder, reported that its order backlog rose by a fifth, year on year, in the first quarter of 2025. Yet delays and cost overruns remain inevitable. Productivity has gone from bad to worse. Since 2000, output per worker in the construction industry has fallen by 8%, even as it has risen by 54% for the private sector as a whole. The trouble is not limited to commercial projects. America\u2019s housebuilding companies constructed the same number of dwellings per employee as they did nine decades ago, contributing to widespread shortages and soaring prices. Behind this dismal state of affairs is a combination of fragmentation, overregulation and underinvestment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> America\u2019s broken construction industry is a big problem for Trump (from @TheEconomist<\/a>) https:\/\/t.co\/uJ9VRbb1gF<\/a> #construction<\/a> #building<\/a> #housing<\/a> #infrastructure<\/a> #design<\/a> #architecture<\/a><\/p>— Marshall Leslie (@MarshallLeslie) July 11, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>