A Mixed Bag

by Kristen Dowd | Apr 15, 2026

The building and construction industry in the United States is on shaky ground so far in 2026, with rising material costs, skilled labor shortages and decisions being made at the federal level all impacting projects big and small. According to Associated Builders & Contractors, overall construction input prices clocked in at 3.1% higher in February compared with a year prior, and these prices ticked up 1.3% just from the first to second month of this year.

However, it’s not all bad news. The Associated Contractors Association of New Jersey reported an overall 8% increase in construction spending across the country in 2025. And while the association did note an overall 4% decline in New Jersey by year’s end, local experts use past experience to plan for industry issues.

“The best way to stay ahead of challenges,” explains Robert Powell, CCIM, vice president of development and marketing, Vineland Construction Company, “is to analyze where key pinch points could occur during a project and have plans in place to address the issues if/when they do occur.”

South Jersey Biz had a chance to talk with Powell and other leaders in the field to get a feel for what everyone is anticipating for 2026—and what can help the industry move forward with a firm foundation.

How do you view the current state of the construction and building industry?

“It’s strong from our perspective. Construction is visible throughout New Jersey with road and bridge construction, warehousing and retail, publicly-funded projects, mixed-use and affordable housing developments.”

—Chuck Romanoli, CCM, managing principal, NEW ROAD Construction Company

“There still remains a lot of uncertainty in the markets. When the current administration took office and started putting tariffs on things; that made everybody nervous about spending money. Some of that settled out, but now with other things changing, there’s still a fair bit of uncertainty. There’s money sitting on the sidelines that’s waiting to see how some things shake out.”

—John Oberer, senior vice president and principal, GZA

“With a war in Iran and the government partially shut down, recovery from the damages inflicted in recent months will not be quick. The building industry is facing elevated material, transport and interest costs, with asphalt, roofing and other petrol-based products having increased by 30%. ... As a result, we can expect a decrease in funding for federal projects, and state and local public sector projects will fare no better. In the private sector, new housing stock has come to a standstill due to rising prices and high mortgage rates, while retail, office and manufacturing construction continues to decline. In this type of economic climate, the focus usually turns to renovation, adaptive use, better planning, careful financial analysis, contingency budgeting and revitalization.”

—Regan Young, AIA, president, RYEBREAD Architects

There is a wide variation of the industry’s market size and growth across the country. What are the advantages of building in our region?

“In our region, we have the advantage of proximity of workforce resources as well as materials. Those are our big advantages. I think property values are probably a disadvantage just because they’re so high, and of course taxes as well.”

—John Oberer

“Southern New Jersey’s main advantage is available land and growing infrastructure to accommodate the growth we’re experiencing in residential development, education/health care and other commercial development. Overall, New Jersey significantly outperformed the national trend in 2025 for total construction spending. The key drivers for this were major projects like turnpike and highway improvements, utility expansion and private developments like the $1 billion Netflix studio, along with other commercial and residential projects around the state. These project pipelines throughout the state are healthy and the growth trend will continue momentum into 2026-2027.”

—Robert Powell

How has the continued redevelopment of office space accelerated the demand for demolition and waste removal services?

“Office conversions are ramping up, and that’s driving a lot of this front-end work. New Jersey is pushing more redevelopment of older spaces instead of letting them sit vacant. In many cases, these buildings are being turned into apartments, hotels, or rebuilt entirely. It all gets stripped to zero before the rebuild starts. The early work is a bigger part of the job now.”

-- Eunide Alexandre, managing director, HelpForce

Between a continued shortage of skilled labor and the high cost of materials, there are many challenges facing the industry right now. Which ones do you consider most impactful in 2026?

“It’s everything at once. Labor is hard to find and prices don’t stay steady with some of the tariff swings. Jobs can also shift. You can’t just rely on one plan anymore.”

-- Eunide Alexandre

“Labor shortages in the sector, modest cost inflation (higher in South Jersey than North) and regulatory hurdles are all challenges we’re experiencing right now. From a development perspective, regulatory hurdles have the most impact on projects, causing delays or indefinite pauses which are then compounded by the labor shortages and inflation when trying to ramp up construction activity.”

—Robert Powell

“Between a continued shortage of skilled labor and the high cost of materials, there are many challenges facing the construction industry right now. The most impactful to us currently is the uncertainty of material and product costs, especially oil based products in our roofing and paving contracts. Contractors may be forced to take significantly more risk in their bids when projecting costs several months, or maybe years in advance, and that often means higher bids and stressed budgets.”

—Chuck Romanoli

With artificial intelligence, 3D printing and green materials, sustainable construction seems to be growing every year. What types of sustainability and technology tools do you see most influencing the industry?

“Artificial intelligence gives you a second set of eyes without needing another person. It helps us spot risks early, which leads to fewer change orders and more reliable timelines. That matters.”

-- Eunide Alexandre

“In terms of AI, I think we’re only just starting to dip our toe in the value of that. It’s also a path laden with pitfalls. Especially in the industry that I’m in—engineering—there’s a real temptation to rely heavily on AI and the danger is, you don’t have someone who is properly trained and experienced being the one operating the AI, and [they are] not really technically checking the work and the output from the AI. You need someone who can do the work and if they’re going to do it with AI, they have to be able to do it themselves so they can understand what [the technology] is giving them in return. It’s not going to replace those trained and experienced workers, it’s just going to be something that will make them more productive, if it’s done properly.”

—John Oberer

Do you have anything else you would like to add?

“One of the other trends we see, when the construction market is strong, is unqualified contractors entering the pool of bidders on public projects. We have a lot of qualified contractors that we work with every day and who understand the level of effort required to renovate an occupied school facility. Unfortunately, there are low bid contractors who only see a pot of money to take advantage of and have no intention of meeting the demands of safety, schedule and quality necessary on our projects.”

—Chuck Romanoli

“In short, the industry is healthy and expanding across New Jersey, with Southern New Jersey playing a key role in residential growth and emerging as a hub for education/health care-driven development with projects like the new Rowan [University] expansion.”

—Robert Powell

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Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Biz, Volume 16, Issue 4 (April 2026).

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