2006 Top Projects

By Lucy Bodilly

Northwest Construction’s Top Project List reflects the recent trends in the Northwest toward downtown housing and hospital expansion. From Eugene, Ore. to Everett, Wash. six major hospital expansions are under way. And the number of high rise condo projects in downtown core areas is equally impressive. Projects on this year’s list were either mentioned on the surveys returned for Top Contractors in the April edition or in the McGraw Hill Construction Network. Construction had to be under way sometime between January 1 and June 1, 2006. Certainly the region is booming, with construction starts in the billions.

How long this continues relies on several factors. Owners whose projects have been in the planning stages for several years are now being hit with price escalations averaging three percent per month, according the Engineering News Record price index. Anything even remotely contingent on the price of petroleum, from deliveries to insulation, is rising even more quickly. Fly ash inventories are non-existent, according to Dave Fentress with Glacier Northwest, Portland, forcing concrete suppliers to re-engineer their mixes. Concrete lower than 3,000 psi is simply not available. Costs for labor and materials are expected to increase over the summer months, as reconstruction in the Gulf Coast picks up. Interest rates are expected to continue creeping upwards.

Labor costs can be expected to rise as well, with the large number of jobs available and major union contracts expiring soon, at least in Washington.

With the large number of projects under way, and well-financed developers such as Vulcan Real Estate and Gerding Edlen leading the way, nobody expects a slow down soon. But what kind of projects will top next year’s list? That’s anybody’s guess.

2006 Top Projects / Public >>

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