Artlicle 1 Construction cost estimating presents new challenges

This article discusses the economic issues concerned in the past two years with construction.It explains the dramatic increases in our economy and the construction industry, and as a result, this period is supposedly one of the most volatile on record when it comes to pricing of construction supplies, materials and services.
"From the general contractor's perspective, the good news is that America's demand for new commercial and residential building has been on the increase in 2005. According to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, as of August 2005 construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,108.5 billion, 6.1 percent above August 2004. During the first eight months of 2005, construction spending amounted to $723.7 billion, 9.0 percent above the same period in 2004. From July to August 2005, the fastest growing segments of the construction industry were highways and nonresidential private construction, outpacing the rate of growth in residential and all other facets of public construction. "

From all this it has been said that although demand for construction is healthy and constantly growing, external forces will increase the price of construction considerably over the next few years.

Article:Prefabricated Steel Buildings Provide an Economical Construction Alternative

This article states the history of the steel building industry, and the advantages from building in steel. some of these are:

1)steel building manufacturers have created prefabricated systems for a wide range of applications

2)steel is used very successfully for structures as small as toll booths and vending machine shelters, and as large as barns and agricultural facilities, work shops, sports facilities, even churches and retail centers.

3)Steel buildings are frequently used in larger buildings like commercial aircraft hangers and sports arenas, where a large clearspan space is required. (Clearspan is an interior space of a building where the roof is supported by the bordering structural walls and framework, and not with columns.)

4)prefabricated steel buildings can also be erected more quickly than traditionally constructed buildings.

These were just some of the structural advantages found through the use of steel in this article.