Glass-Related Construction Spending Edges Down

Nonresidential glass and glazing activity ticked down again in September. According to Key Media & Research (KMR), architectural glass related construction spending declined 3.6% compared to a year ago and 0.4% versus the previous month.

KMR’s glass and glazing activity figures are developed from the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly construction spending report, with weighting and models applied to industry-relevant subsectors.

This was a slower rate of decrease than nonresidential construction as a whole, which declined by 4.4% year-over-year and 1.6% month-over-month. Residential construction headed in the opposite direction and was up 10.1% from September 2019 to the same month in 2020.

A more-than-15% decrease in lodging construction and a near-7% drop in office building year-over-year was largely responsible for a 5.3% decline in commercial glass and glazing work. The commercial segment was also down 1.1% on a monthly basis.

Meanwhile, glazing contractor activity on the institutional side of nonresidential construction was less negative, edging down 1.8% from last September to September 2020 while increasing 0.3% from August. Healthcare building was up 2.5% from the same time last year, while the educational category saw a dip of 4.8%.

Public safety was again a bright spot, increasing nearly 33% year-over-year.