Construction backlogs rose in April, reports Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), up 0.2 months from March and up 0.1 months from April 2025. ABC’s monthly Construction Backlog Indicator shows that backlogs increased to 8.8 months in April, mainly due to increased demand for contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues.
ABC data indicates that the backlog for contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues was 2.2 months higher in April than year-ago levels. All other contractor size categories have smaller backlogs than they did one year ago.
“While backlog surged to a 10-month high in April, the industry’s recent momentum is highly concentrated among a subset of contractors,” says ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. “Booming data center construction has almost exclusively benefited the largest ABC members; 42% of contractors with more than $100 million in annual revenues are under contract to work on data center projects. The same is true for just 7% of contractors with less than $100 million in annual revenues. Critically, contractors under contract to work on data centers have a significantly longer backlog (12.2 months) than those that are not (8.3 months).”
Basu adds that contractors are confident about the future. Only one in five contractors expects profit margins to decrease in the next six months, and they remain optimistic about sales and staffing.