The economy has been tough for many HVAC contractors over the last few years, and the signals are mixed as to whether things will get better in 2012. On the positive side, construction employment rose in 28 states and the District of Columbia between December 2010 and December 2011, the largest number of states with year-over-year employment gains since November 2007, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Looking at 2012, AGC expects modest gains in construction employment, as demand for some private-sector construction projects improves.
On the other hand, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that only 302,000 new homes were sold in 2011, which is 6.2 percent below the 2010 figure. Existing home prices continue to decline in many parts of the country as well. And the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected that economic growth will only be 2 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2013, while unemployment may creep higher to 9.2 percent by next year.