This company is a constituent of the construction sector. No other industry sector is as dependent on the state of the economy as construction. During economic booms cranes pop up everywhere. When the economy hits a low, the cranes stand still almost immediately. Construction output also tells the story of a country’s wealth.
The construction industry consists mainly of small and medium-sized companies and a number of large multinationals acting as project managers, contractors, building material makers, consultants and other product or service providers.
Besides governments, some of the most prominent construction clients come from the utilities sector. Water, gas and telecommunications companies, for example, require large infrastructure networks, including pipes, power stations and telecommunication masts.
Construction is not just about building new structures either. The maintenance and improvements segment accounts for a major share of the workload.
By its very nature, construction uses more raw materials than any other sector. The building materials segment uses various natural resources to produce cement, bricks, asphalt and other essential construction ingredients. The use of recycled and agricultural materials is becoming more common in the industry to save resources and bring costs down in the long-term.
Watch this space: The use of components and hyper efficient technologies allows the construction industry to build a skyscraper in 100 days. This is because component manufacturing has become a major part of the industry, with builders constantly pushing the margins for shorter construction periods. The building materials segment is under pressure to find ever new ways to improve processes on construction sites, for example by coming up with new ways to make liquid materials dry even quicker.
