What Heavy Civil Contractors are Seeing in Q3

FMI’s Q3 2026 Civil Infrastructure Construction Index (CICI) is out. Every quarter, it asks heavy civil and infrastructure contractors about backlog, cost, competition and outlook.

The index climbed to 52.3, back above the neutral 50 line, carried by backlog and pipeline. Book-to-burn alone swung from 48.9 to 57.4. Cost went the other way. Materials and labor both tightened, and not one firm reported significantly higher margins than it did a year ago.

Business confidence hit a cycle high of 59.1. Roughly 80% of firms said competition got tougher. Contractors pointed to leadership succession, not demand, as the harder problem to solve from here.

The full report adds component-level data, outlooks by segment and funding source, and the succession findings.

Download the Q3 Report

FMI’s Q4 2026 index results are here. 

Here’s a preview of the key findings ahead of the full report releases:

The Nonresidential Construction Index (NRCI)
The NRCI fell to 51.7 in Q4 2026, from 55.1 in Q3, as sentiment softened slightly across nearly every component, though the index remains on the expansion side of 50.

The Civil Construction Index (CICI)
The CICI slipped to 49.4 in Q4 2026, from 52.3 in Q3, its first reading below the neutral line since Q3 2022, driven largely by weaker sentiment toward participants’ local economy and local E&C industry.

These results provide an early read on market conditions and serve as key inputs into our forecast development for the upcoming Outlook and CICI reports, which will be released in the coming weeks.

Click the buttons below for an exclusive first look at the Q4 results before the full reports are published.

First-Ever National Field Data Study on Multiskilled Construction Shows Wins for Workers, Taxpayers, Industry

Associated Builders and Contractors celebrated the release of Multiskilling in the U.S. Construction Industry, the largest national dataset documenting the relationship between multiskilling labor strategies and performance outcomes, including productivity, staffing levels and schedule durations. Among other findings, the research showed that multiskilling increased the share of crew time spent on directly advancing construction work by 39%.

Multiskilled craft professionals build select, verified capabilities by obtaining credentials in multiple crafts and then utilizing them safely and competently on the jobsite. In the research, the typical observed worker used nearly three distinct skill classifications, and some workers used as many as six in one day.

“As the nation prepares to celebrate the worker on Labor Day, this new field research is putting skilled construction pros at the center of one of the industry’s biggest challenges: how to build more with a workforce already stretched thin,” said Michael Bellaman, ABC president and CEO. “The most important findings show the inherent value of multiskilling for the worker: It creates the conditions for the worker to grow their skillsets, be more valuable, find more fulfillment, earn more and have more opportunities. It also shows that multiskilling can help these qualified workers spend more time building by more fully using the varied skills they bring to the jobsite.”

This new research series—the first of its kind—was conducted by the Simplar Foundation and three university research partners: Arizona State University, the University of Kansas and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“The research team observed and documented enormous benefits for the workers during our time on site and talking with participating crews,” said Brian Lines, Ph.D., P.E., principal investigator and associate professor, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, University of Kansas. “These include more career paths, greater earning potential, more projects and hours as well as longer project assignments. However, the benefits were not the same everywhere. They were largest where the work created frequent opportunities to cover adjacent tasks, avoid handoffs and keep the crew moving. Lower opportunity often reflected the task mix and work sequence, not a lack of worker capability. Broader capability creates value for the employer.”

Highlights in this first of three releases of the data series include:

• Multiskilled workers were able to spend substantially more of the workday directly advancing construction work. Multiskilling increased the share of crew time spent on direct construction work by about 39%. Limiting workers to one trade reduced the share of crew time spent directly on construction work from nearly half to about one-third.
• Multiskilled crews spent far less of the active workday waiting or otherwise idle. Multiskilling reduced idle and waiting time by about 68% during active work periods.
• Multiskilled crews allowed the available workforce to cover substantially more of the work. Limiting workers to one trade would require approximately 45%-72% more workers to accomplish the same work sequence that was observed in the field.
• Cross-trade work was a routine part of how the observed crews operated, not an occasional exception. Workers spent about 36% of observed crew time performing work outside their primary trade. A one-trade restriction would require roughly one-third of the observed crew work to be reassigned, delayed or covered by someone else.
• Researchers documented 128 unique trade combinations where workers combined their primary trade with one or more additional skills.
• Multiskilling preserves craft depth while giving workers more ways to earn, remain employed, advance, lead and shape the direction of their careers.
• Across approximately 33.2 million work hours, the participating contractors reported above-average safety performance, with average Total Recordable Incident Rates of 0.74, 57% below the NAICS-weighted benchmark, and no reported fatalities.
• Using fewer workers and crews in a tight work area reduces congestion and coordination pressure, which can lead to safety performance improvements.

The research analyzed observations at jobsites nationwide deploying multiskilling in real time:

• The research team conducted 40 site visits on 36 projects in 24 different states.
• The 22 unique project types ranged in costs from $0.5 million to $1+ billion.
• 60 multiskilled crews of 644 total workers from 30 different contractors were observed.
• The research team collected more than 11,400 productivity/work-sampling observations.

“Improving productivity and worker job fulfillment through multiskilling is imperative to delivering the construction projects that Americans need, from highways and bridges to hospitals and energy infrastructure,” said Bellaman. “Multiskilling means workers are qualified to safely and competently perform tasks across trades. It complements specialization and delivers the most value on handoff-heavy scopes of work. It highlights measurable benefits in productivity, staffing, safety and worker opportunity, with evidence from real projects.

“These new findings suggest that multiskilling can deliver benefits for the entire construction industry, including greater opportunity for workers, greater flexibility for contractors and owners, and greater capacity to build the projects America needs,” said Bellaman.

To research the data series, visit simplarfoundation.org/multiskilling/. To read the Q&A and learn more, visit abc.org/multiskilling.

ABC on August Jobs Report: Nonresidential Specialty Contractors Power Construction’s Employment Growth

The construction industry added 22,000 jobs on net in August, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has expanded by 120,000 jobs, an increase of 1.5%.

Nonresidential construction employment grew by 10,400 positions in August, with gains in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Nonresidential specialty trade added the most jobs, increasing by 7,800 positions, followed by heavy and civil engineering, which added 4,400 jobs. Nonresidential building lost 1,800 jobs in August.

The construction unemployment rate fell to 3.1% in August, down 0.1 percentage points from August 2025. Unemployment across all industries remained unchanged at 4.1% and is 0.2 percentage points lower than one year ago.

“The construction industry added jobs for the sixth straight month in August and, on a year-over-year basis, is growing its employment base at the fastest pace since February 2025,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “That growth has occurred despite a shrinking homebuilding segment.

“Hiring remains highly concentrated in the nonresidential specialty trade contractor category, a byproduct of the rapid and ongoing increase in data center-related construction activity,” said Basu. “Given the lengthy backlog levels of contractors with data center work, as reflected in ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, the artificial intelligence buildout will continue to support construction employment growth during the next several months.”

ABC: Construction Materials Prices Jump Again in August

Overall construction input prices are 8.9% higher than one year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 8.8% higher. Prices increased in 2 of the 3 energy subcategories last month. Crude petroleum prices expanded 5.2% and unprocessed energy materials prices rose 1.5%, while natural gas prices were down 11.6% in August.

“Construction input prices surged again in August, and the increases were widespread across materials,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Prices for iron and steel, softwood lumber, switchgear, copper wire and cable, and several derivative metal products are now up more than 10% year over year. While contractors remain optimistic about their margins, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, ongoing input price escalation is likely to weigh on profitability over the next several months. This is especially true given recent escalation in the trade war with Canada and the fact that oil prices have jumped back above $100 per barrel.”

Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index.

Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and 24,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC helps members offer a robust employee value proposition, develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. Visit us at abc.org.