CRB has released its new "Horizons: Market Conditions" report. Available quarterly as a free download, the report combines macroeconomic data from public sources and microeconomic data from CRB’s trade partners to provide a snapshot of today’s construction economy to help organizations better navigate their capital project planning phases. 

Data tied to producer prices, market impacts, labor and forecasting are among the factors considered by the report’s contributors: Greg Casper, CRB’s director of estimating and Valerie Silva, the company’s director of procurement.

The first Market Conditions report finds capital project planning vexed by uncertainty that permeates the supply chain and labor pool, as rising interest rates and the expectation of a recession loom over the economy.

Silva and Casper examine lead times for equipment utilized in life sciences and food and beverage facilities. The report finds that lead times for facility electrical equipment continue to extend, requiring early focus on the design and procurement of this equipment to achieve most project schedules. 

Motor control centers (MCC) have current lead times of at least 36 weeks, while transformers can take up to 100 weeks to arrive. Busway lead times are nearly a year long, up 20 weeks over the previous quarter, potentially extending lead times of electrical equipment as well as skidded utility generation equipment, the report’s data shows.

The Market Conditions report expands CRB’s Horizons series, the company’s industry research and analysis of the life sciences and food and beverage industries.