In This Podcast:

Bernie Markstein

Bernie Markstein, chief economist, Reed Construction Data, talks about what’s in store for the HVAC industry in 2014. Posted on Feb. 7.

Q: What are your predictions for the HVACR industry in 2014?

A: For nonresidential construction, which is excellent right now as to where we’ve been — well, excellent may be a bit of an overstatement — but I do see an improvement in 2014 and further improvement in 2015.

Q: Just how much growth do you anticipate?

A: In terms of residential construction spending, I’m expecting about 8 percent growth in 2014 and 8.5 percent in 2015. That’s pretty good seeing that in 2013 we essentially were flat.

Q: Which sectors do you feel will exhibit the largest areas of growth?

A: The biggest sectors for growth will be lodging, which expanded over 23 percent last year. I expect that to increase another 16 percent this year and 12 percent in 2015. Office construction, which slipped a bit last year, will be up around 10-11 percent in 2014 and 7 percent in 2015. Another area, commercial retail, increased 6 percent last year. I expect that to go up 10 percent this year and another 10 percent in 2015. That will tie in with what happens in residential construction. As single family builds out, there’s an additional impact on commercial building. I’m also very positive about manufacturing, which registered 7 percent last year, and I expect it to be close to 14 percent in 2014, and 11 percent in 2015.

Bernie Markstein
Chief economist, Reed Construction Data
www.reedconstructiondata.com

To listen to the entire podcast, click here.

Publication date: 3/31/2014 

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