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Backlog hits nearly 2-year high despite tariff worries
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The survey is a look into how contractors are viewing their businesses following President Donald Trump’s tariff saga and the whiplash some builders have felt following the introduction of those policies.
Basu said that despite these headwinds, contractors are keeping busy. Even so, there are signs that builders are bracing for the future.
“While ABC members remain upbeat about the near-term outlook, the share of respondents that expect their sales to decline over the next six months rose to 19% in April, up 6 percentage points since the start of the year,” Basu said.

Although commercial and institutional construction saw a slight gain in backlog, both heavy industrial and infrastructure work dropped, a departure from the previous month’s reading .
In addition, profit margin expectations improved in April, as the readings for sales and staffing levels fell, though the outlook for sales is still higher than a year ago, according to ABC. The readings for all three components remained above the threshold of 50, indicating respondents expect growth over the next six months.
Right now, data centers are dominating the overall construction planning market, according to the April iteration of the Dodge Momentum Index , but other segments remained subdued.