Weekly Construction Market Intelligence: Dec 1–8, 2025

The construction industry enters December 2025 with a split personality. Planning activity tied to data centers and healthcare continues to surge, while cyclical, rate‑sensitive segments such as warehouses and hotels show softness. 

The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI) fell 1.1% in November from October but remains 36% higher year to date versus 2024, underscoring how mega data center programs are propping up nonresidential planning even as other commercial categories cool.[1][2] 

Meanwhile, owners are pushing major capital into water, transportation, and healthcare. This week’s highlights include roughly $3.6 billion in awards across those sectors, along with notable strategy moves from leading contractors and owners that point to the market’s center of gravity through 2027.

Major project awards

• Ferrovial/Webber (Water infrastructure) — $721 million combined Texas awards
  
  Ferrovial’s U.S. subsidiary Webber secured two large contracts: a $426 million, 105‑foot‑deep pump station in Austin that is part of TxDOT’s I‑35 Capital Express Central project, and a $295 million Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant expansion in Fort Worth. Construction began mid‑2025 with completion slated for late 2028 (pump station) and 2029 (plant expansion). These wins further anchor Ferrovial/Webber among the state’s leading water and resilience builders.[3][4][5]
  
• Fluor (Transportation) — $671 million State Highway 6 reconstruction (Bryan–College Station, TX)
  
  TxDOT awarded Fluor Heavy Civil a 12‑mile reconstruction and widening of SH‑6, expanding main lanes from two to three in each direction, reconfiguring key interchanges, and adding shared‑use paths. The agency confirms the $671 million contract and December 1, 2025 start, with substantial completion anticipated in spring 2030.[6][7][8][9]
  
• McCarthy (Airport infrastructure) — New concourses at Reno–Tahoe International (RNO)
  
  As part of the airport’s $1 billion MoreRNO program, McCarthy was awarded the New Gen A & B concourses, a transformational, airline‑backed phase with a pre‑approved $650 million budget. Phased delivery runs through 2029, with the work replacing aging concourses and adding gates and passenger amenities.[10][11][12][13]
  
• Tutor Perini/Rudolph & Sletten (Healthcare) — ~$960 million UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital (Oakland, CA)
  
  UCSF selected Rudolph & Sletten (a Tutor Perini subsidiary) to deliver a 277,500‑square‑foot, seven‑story hospital with an adjacent parking structure and rooftop heliport. The owner’s environmental record details an eight‑story building concept with a rooftop helistop, reflecting the project’s long‑planned scope and seismic modernization.[14][15][16]
  
• Balfour Beatty (Diversified) — Correctional and data center positioning
  
  While comprehensive public disclosures about a single $750 million “Southeast” corrections tranche and a single $400 million data center package split between Virginia and Oregon were not available in one source this week, Balfour Beatty has an active U.S. federal and public portfolio and recently highlighted strong U.S. buildings momentum and order book growth in its trading update. Historic reporting also shows substantial corrections work in the Southeast (e.g., Georgia DOC) and broad data center activity across the U.S. buildings unit.[17][18][19][20]
  

Growth and expansion signals

• Meta Platforms and Mortenson — $1B+ AI‑optimized data center campus (Beaver Dam, Wisconsin)
  
  Meta announced its 30th global data center and 26th U.S. site: a 700,000‑square‑foot campus in Alliant Energy’s Beaver Dam Commerce Park. Mortenson will serve as the general contractor, with the facility engineered for AI workloads, LEED Gold targets, and a wetlands and prairie restoration program across a 520‑acre footprint. The project is expected to come online in 2027 and generate 1,000+ peak construction jobs.[21][22][23][24][25]
  
• Jacobs Engineering — 5x data center pipeline; water pipeline expansion
  
  On its fiscal Q4 earnings call, Jacobs reported a five‑fold surge in its data center pipeline and highlighted data centers, life sciences, semiconductors, and water infrastructure as key FY2026 growth drivers. Leadership also emphasized robust, double‑digit growth adjacent to infrastructure, reinforcing the firm’s positioning in the “AI plus water” opportunity set.[26][27]
  
• Zachry Construction — Water sector specialization via acquisition
  
  Zachry agreed to acquire Crescent Constructors, a Texas firm focused on municipal and industrial water and wastewater projects. The deal adds more than 100 water specialists, deepening Zachry’s capabilities in one of the fastest‑growing infrastructure markets.[28][29][30]
  
• Regional consolidation (owner’s rep / PM)
  
  Market coverage notes active consolidation in professional services and owner’s representative segments; however, comprehensive primary disclosures for the specific Cumming Group–LeftField transaction doubling New England presence were not located in this search set. If you want, I can run a targeted follow‑up to source and include verifiable links in an update.
  

Trendline: Data center dominance, healthcare resiliency, and water’s secular rise

• Data center planning is carrying nonresidential
  
  Dodge’s November DMI decline of 1.1% masks the story beneath the headline: year‑to‑date planning is still up 36% versus 2024, buoyed by high‑value data centers that continue to enter the pipeline. Dodge expects nonresidential to strengthen into 2027, led by data centers and hospitals, while warehouses and hotels have softened.[1][2]
  
  This week’s marquee data point—Meta’s Beaver Dam campus—illustrates how hyperscale owners are layering sustainability and ecological commitments (LEED Gold, wetlands restoration) into delivery while investing ahead of AI compute demand.[21][23]
  
• Healthcare: steady programmatic capital
  
  The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital award in Oakland adds to a national pattern of hospital and specialty care investments that continue despite interest‑rate headwinds. Institutional owners are prioritizing seismic, resiliency, and patient‑experience upgrades in multi‑year capital plans.[14][15]
  
• Water infrastructure: from cyclical to secular
  
  Multiple top‑tier contractors are signaling water as a core growth vector, and public owners are stepping up with large programs for renewal, resilience, and capacity. Ferrovial/Webber’s $721 million Texas wins exemplify the immediate opportunity, and Jacobs’ commentary highlights a broadening pipeline.[3][4][26]
  
  Expect sustained municipal and regional authority spending on treatment, conveyance, storage, and stormwater—especially in fast‑growing metros and climate‑sensitive basins—through 2027.
  

Labor and delivery capacity

• Hiring momentum into Q1 2026

September showed a solid rebound with 19,000 construction jobs added, according to AGC analysis, while craft wage rates remain elevated as firms compete to retain skilled workers in a selective market.[31] Broader BLS series indicate construction payrolls remain near cyclical highs, though hiring and openings have moderated from 2022–2024 peaks.[32][33]

• The skills gap is structural, not cyclical
  
  While estimates of the absolute shortfall vary by methodology and timing, multiple credible sources point to sustained annual hiring needs well into the hundreds of thousands to meet backlogs and demographic churn. For example, HBI’s Fall 2025 report estimates roughly 723,000 hires per year will be required across construction occupations, even as housing and remodeling cycles ebb and flow.[34]
  
  Bottom line: If AI‑driven data center and water programs accelerate faster than the labor pool expands, wage and schedule pressures could re‑intensify in 2026, especially for electrical, mechanical, structural concrete, earthwork, and commissioning trades.
  
• Regulatory backdrop note
  
  We did not find a primary U.S. Department of Energy notice this week confirming the reported withdrawal of a federal “zero‑emissions building” definition. If this is core to your readership, I can track the rulemaking docket and add a sourced update once DOE’s publication record is clear.
  

What this means for 2026–2027

• Owners
  • Data center and hospital proponents should plan for tight MEPF‑intensive trade capacity in select metros. Consider phased bid packages, early equipment procurement, and offsite prefabrication to de‑risk schedules.
  • Water owners can expect robust contractor interest but must calibrate delivery models. For complex facilities, collaborative CMAR and design‑build approaches are likely to draw stronger teams and value engineering.
  • Across sectors, align sustainability goals with grid and water realities. Beaver Dam highlights a playbook: utility partnerships, on‑site efficiency, and ecological restoration integrated into program plans.[23][25]
• Contractors
  • Specialize where demand is secular. Firms deepening data center, healthcare, and water competencies will be best positioned to maintain volume and margin as commodity commercial cools.
  • Invest in digital delivery and industrialized construction. Data center leaders are insisting on BIM coordination, live digital utility mapping, drones, and robotic layout to compress cycles and improve QA/QC.[24]
  • M&A will keep reshaping the roster. Zachry’s move for Crescent exemplifies capability‑led consolidation in water. Expect additional tuck‑ins in controls, commissioning, and specialty trades tied to AI infrastructure.[29][28]
• Suppliers
  • Lead times for switchgear, generators, chillers, transformers, and specialty pipe will remain the pacing items on many AI and water programs. Early engagement and framework agreements can mitigate price and schedule risk.
  • Hospitals and concourse programs will continue to demand high‑performance envelopes and low‑embodied‑carbon materials; positioning specs around total cost of ownership will sustain premium product pull‑through.

Companies to watch

1. Jacobs Engineering

The firm’s disclosed 5x jump in data center pipeline, paired with strong water and advanced facilities work, puts it squarely in the market’s fastest‑growing niches heading into 2026.[26]

2. Ferrovial/Webber

With two sizable Texas water projects now underway, Ferrovial/Webber is consolidating its position in resilience‑oriented infrastructure across Sun Belt metros.[3][4]

3. Meta + Mortenson

The Beaver Dam campus layers habitat restoration and AI‑ready design onto a large‑scale delivery program. Mortenson’s digital and field robotics approach aligns with hyperscale requirements and will be a template to watch.[21][23][24]

4. McCarthy

RNO’s concourse program is airline‑backed and phased, adding durable public‑owner backlog through the decade and showcasing airport modernization best practices.[10][11][12]

5. Zachry Construction

Strategic expansion into water via Crescent adds immediate depth where owners are allocating multi‑year capital, positioning Zachry for sustained growth in a secular market.[28][29]

The bottom line

Despite headline “declines” in November planning, the 2025 story remains intact: data center mega‑projects and hospitals are holding up nonresidential, and water is emerging as a secular cornerstone for public owners and integrated builders. With major awards in Texas transportation and water, Nevada aviation, California healthcare, and Upper Midwest AI infrastructure, delivery teams that can combine sector specialization with digital execution and supply chain foresight will outperform into 2027.

Why workforce visibility matters now

As delivery teams navigate rising labor intensity across data centers, healthcare programs, and water infrastructure, contractors are turning to platforms like Rhumbix to tighten field reporting and protect margins. Rhumbix standardizes timekeeping, production tracking, and credential management in one mobile workflow, ensuring payroll-ready records flow back to the office without rework or reconciliation delays. Finance and project teams gain real-time visibility into labor costs, out-of-scope activity, and crew deployment across markets where capacity is already strained. By digitizing foreman workflows and automating compliance at the source, contractors create the documentation owners now expect and build a repeatable model for delivering complex programs through 2026–2027. 

Sources

• Dodge Momentum Index monthly and YTD context.[1][2]
• Ferrovial/Webber Texas water projects.[3][4][5]
• Fluor SH‑6 (Bryan–College Station) award and scope.[6][7][8][9]
• McCarthy and Reno–Tahoe International concourses; MoreRNO program.[10][11][12][13]
• UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital (Oakland) award and program documents.[14][15][16]
• Meta Beaver Dam data center; Mortenson role; utility and restoration.[21][22][23][24][25]
• Jacobs data center and water growth commentary.[26][27]
• Zachry acquires Crescent Constructors.[28][29][30]
• Labor snapshot and hiring needs.[31][32][33][34]