High-Profile: November 2026 | Page 31

Resilience, Diversification and the Pace of Building:
November 2026 High-Profile Special Feature: Built Leadership Forum 31
Resilience, Diversification and the Pace of Building:

What Massachusetts Contractors Are Telling Us

By John Ferrante
The first months of 2026 forced a lot of soul searching across Massachusetts construction. Shifts in federal policy toward research and grant-funded institutions pulled the floor out from under a category Boston has long leaned on. The universities and hospitals that typically carried contractors through uncertain stretches were not positioned to do that this time, and firms that had counted on those anchors had to scramble. Layer in tariffs and the whiplash that followed Liberation Day, and you had a year that tested everyone’ s assumptions about where work comes from.
What I have watched since then is an industry proving how nimble it can be. Contractors and developers alike have diversified. Companies are pursuing projects in places they never had to consider before, simply because safe harbors closer to home made it unnecessary. Some are heading north, some west, and those with the capacity to travel are bidding in other regions of the country. Just as important, they are broadening the roster of owners they serve right here. That pivot happened in real time, and it speaks to the resilience of the people who make up our membership.
Optimism has not faded, and that is the part I most want owners and investors to hear. Demand for new buildings in Boston and across the Commonwealth has not gone anywhere. What has stalled is the ability to line up financing, permitting and approvals at the same moment. Preconstruction has become the bridge over that gap. Construction managers who invested in those capabilities are thriving, because owners still want a project carried as far along as possible so they can pull the trigger the day the money arrives. When tariffs settle or interest rates ease, there is a deep bench of potential work waiting to break ground. The pressure, for now, shows up as delay rather than cancellation.
Our response at AGC Massachusetts has two tracks. On the advocacy side, we are aligning ourselves with the pro-growth voices pushing for more development throughout the state. It is easy to stand in the way of something on Beacon Hill. It is harder, and far more valuable, to support an agenda that benefits communities broadly while also creating opportunity for building contractors. Development is often cast as a disruptive force. We see it as a transformational one, and we intend to make that case loudly. The second track is practical: helping members compete
in markets they may have overlooked or struggled to enter, affordable housing chief among them. Those sectors will keep growing their share of the pipeline, and a lot of firms are already asking how to get leaner and sharper so the numbers pencil out.
Then there is the question of innovation, which I expect to dominate the conversation at the Built Leadership Forum on Nov. 16. The challenge is well documented. The pace of everything around a project has accelerated, yet the speed at which you can pour a foundation or frame a floor has barely changed. Concrete still comes out of the truck at the rate it always has. So the real opportunity lies in using technology to inform how a job proceeds, not in pretending the physical act of building can be rushed. Coordination should not be as complicated as it is when tools exist that can digest enormous amounts of information quickly and return an accurate read on the situation.
AI is front of mind for every firm I talk with, and rightly so. But the lesson of the last decade should give us pause. We put tablets and electronic plans in the hands of people in the field and discovered that having all the information is not the same as knowing how to interpret it. That still takes deep experience, or an understanding of every piece of the project. New tools will only pay off if we pair them with training and with a shared sense of how they fit into the workflow.
Fragmented adoption is where I see the most friction today. A subcontractor asked to run three different design platforms and three separate projecttracking systems across three jobs is not benefiting from innovation; that company is absorbing someone else’ s. The industry has to decide together where technology genuinely improves coordination and where it quietly adds cost, and we cannot make that call one firm at a time.
That is why AGC Massachusetts is proud to present the Built Leadership Forum. Communication and collaboration are the most important things our industry can invest in right now, and a crosssection of owners, contractors, designers and financiers in one room is exactly the setting for it. I am looking forward to hearing what those leaders have to say, and I hope you will join us.
John Ferrante is CEO of AGC Massachusetts.

Risky Profits Require a Risk Whisperer in the Boardroom

Highlights from Jon Belek’ s perspective on profitability, risk management and the construction industry heading into 2027.
contractual obligations and their ability to execute the work successfully.
Risk Extends Beyond Insurance Coverage
Understanding how and when to apply these strategies can make a meaningful difference in a company’ s financial performance.
By Jon Belek
As New England’ s construction industry navigates shifting market conditions, I continue to hear a common concern from construction leaders: Having a strong project backlog doesn’ t necessarily mean a company is profitable.
With rising costs, workforce challenges and changing project opportunities, I believe contractors need to take a more deliberate approach to growth and risk management.
A Busy Contractor Isn’ t Necessarily a Profitable One
Some construction firms continue to maintain strong backlogs, while others are heading into 2027 with uncertainty. Labor shortages, material costs, financing
expenses and tighter margins are forcing contractors to look beyond how much work they’ ve secured.
The question I encourage leaders to ask is whether those projects will ultimately be profitable. Being busy is not the same as being financially healthy.
Growth Requires Discipline
I caution contractors against pursuing projects simply to keep their pipelines full. Entering unfamiliar markets or taking on larger projects can create opportunities, but those decisions also introduce new risks.
Before committing, contractors should carefully evaluate staffing, cash flow,
When I talk about risk, I’ m not referring only to insurance claims. An employee injury, payment dispute or project delay can have consequences that extend well beyond the initial incident.
Lost productivity, overtime expenses and scheduling disruptions can all affect profitability. Effective risk management means understanding how these exposures interact across an entire project.
Risk Management Belongs in the Boardroom
I believe risk management should be part of executive decision-making, not something addressed only when it’ s time to renew an insurance policy.
There are five fundamental approaches to managing risk: avoiding exposure, retaining risk, reducing potential losses, transferring responsibility through contracts and transferring covered financial losses through insurance.
Three Questions Leaders Should Ask Heading Into 2027
As construction leaders plan for the year ahead, I encourage CEOs and CFOs to ask themselves three questions:
• Which risk-management strategies are we currently using?
• Do we fully understand the risks our companies are retaining?
• Is our backlog supporting profitable growth, or simply keeping us busy? Sustainable growth requires more than winning work. It demands a clear understanding of the financial, contractual and operational risks associated with every project.
Jon Belek is the Northeast construction practice leader at IMA Financial Group. Read full article at https:// tinyurl. com / 3yrpufpu.
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