Construction industry leaders were less optimistic in May, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
All three components of ABC’s Construction Confidence Index fell for the month; however, they remained above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth.
In May, ABC’s Construction Confidence Index decreased from 65.5 to 61.3 for staffing levels; from 54.9 to 52.5 for profit margin expectations; and from 66.2 to 61.1 for sales expectations.
Additionally, ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator rose from 8.8 months in April to 9.1 months in May and was up 0.7 months compared with May 2025.
“Backlog rose to a nearly three-year high in May,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This increase largely reflects the massive data center investments taking place across the nation as the 14% of ABC members under contract to work on data centers continue to have much higher backlog (11.6 months) than those that are not (8.6 months). The way this boom is disproportionately benefiting larger contractors helps to explain why contractor confidence slipped in May even as backlog continued to climb.”
