Construction industry leaders were optimistic in June, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Two of the three components of ABC’s Construction Confidence Index rose for the month, and all three components remained above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth.
In June, ABC’s Construction Confidence Index increased from 61.3 to 62.7 for staffing levels and from 61.1 to 63.6 for sales expectations. The index fell from 52.5 to 52.4 for profit margin expectations.
Additionally, ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator fell from 9.1 months in May to 8.8 months in June and was up 0.1 months compared with June 2025.
“While backlog declined in June, it’s still longer than any point from September 2023 to April 2026,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This strength is the result of continued booming data center construction. The 13% of ABC members under contract to work on data centers have significantly higher backlog (11.0 months) than the 87% that are not (8.5 months). This trend is noticeable headwind for smaller contractors—just 8% of contractors with less than $100 million in annual revenues have data center work under contract, well below the 41% share of contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues.
“The effect of rising input prices may be weighing on contractor profitability,” Basu continued. “Contractor confidence regarding profit margins fell to a seven-month low in June, though expectations remain above the prevailing level from the second half of 2025.”
