18
ACCESS, LIFT & HANDLERS
JULY-AUGUST 2013
SCAFFOLD
20
SCAFFOLD
20
survey details
Research for the SCAFFOLD
20
was conducted in the Spring 2013. Where companies were
unwilling to provide data, we made our estimates based on advice from annual reports and industry
contacts. We thank those companies and individuals who provided information.
If you would like to be included in next year’s SCAFFOLD
20
, please contact editor Lindsey
Anderson at
or by calling (312) 929-4409.
Many companies and contractors are citing
gains from the ongoing construction of power
plants, refineries and bridges to the repair
and restoration of historic buildings – in short,
widespread demand across many markets.
While the collapse of the housing market and
the succeeding economic recession brought
construction activity in most markets to a near
halt, the scaffolding industry is recovering at a
modest clip.
The industry’s recovery started in 2011
and gained momentum in 2012. According
to IBISWorld’s Scaffolding Contractors in the
U.S. report, industry revenues are expected to
grow 11 percent in the next year, boosted by
resurgence in construction activity, primarily
from residential markets. Continued recovery
in downstream construction markets will help
the industry return to growth in the five years
to 2017.
During the five years leading up to 2012,
residential construction slumped to historic
lows, dropping at an average rate of 9.8 percent
per year to about $349.5 billion in 2012,
as foreclosures, declining home prices and
tightening credit standards contributed to soft
housing demand conditions. Non-residential
construction, the industry’s largest revenue
generator, also declined at an average annual
rate of 5.4 percent to about $332.8 billion in the
five years to 2012, the report notes.
Reduced corporate profit, high unemployment
and low consumer spending weakened demand
for new office, retail, and industrial spaces, in
turn, hurting demand for scaffolding contractors.
“The industry experienced declining revenue
from 2007 through 2011 with the steepest
decline of 20.4 percent occurring in 2009 during
the peak of the recession,” the report states.
With the recession coming to a close for the
industry, though, the SCAFFOLD
20
mirrors an
industry that’s on the brink of flourishing. Will it
hit $4 billion total next year? We’ll have to wait
and see.
■
Peterson Industrial Scaffolding
of St. Louis was called in
to scaffold the interior and
exterior of St Alphonsus
Church so repairs could
be made to the church’s
spire after it was
struck by lightning.
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