Construction industry leaders remained optimistic in October, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Two of the three components of ABC’s Construction Confidence Index fell for the month, but all three components remained above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth during the next six months.
In October, ABC’s Construction Confidence Index decreased from 60.7 to 59.4 for staffing levels and from 60.1 to 59.9 for sales expectations. The index rose from 52 to 53.3 for profit margin expectations.
Additionally, ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator fell from 8.7 months in September to 8.1 months in October and was down 0.3 months compared with October 2025.
“Backlog fell sharply in October, returning to levels not consistently observed since last winter,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This decline was largely due to worsening prospects for the 88% of contractors not under contract to work on data centers, which saw their backlog fall from 8.3 months in September to 7.6 months in October. Contractors with data center work, a majority of which have over $100 million in annual revenues, saw their backlog rise from 11.3 months to 11.5 months.
“Despite the decline in backlog and worsening sales and staffing expectations, contractor optimism regarding profit margins improved in October,” Basu continued. “This is encouraging given recent increases in materials prices and borrowing costs, although it should be noted that roughly 1 in 4 contractors still expect their margins to shrink over the next six months.”
