The American City Business Journals recently reported that Texas is home to two of the most rapidly expanding cities in the United States: Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. People are flocking to the Lonestar State, recording one thousand new residents, per city every week.
The Great Recession, a term coined in reference to the significant reduction in economic activity in the late 2000s to early 2010s, saw much of North America suffering ongoing hardship. While construction companies in most regions of the country were greatly affected, Texas managed to avoid much of the strain caused by the downturn.
In fact, businesses from other parts of the U.S. migrated to the Texas’ more successful cities to take advantage of economic stability. A thriving economy in the midst of depression is comforting to the existing community. David Stueckler, president and CEO of Linbeck, acknowledges the good with the bad:
Texas didn’t suffer the big dip that everybody else suffered, so it’s been highly competitive. That tends to drive down fees and limit your opportunities. …The oil and gas industry [is] where a lot of the domestic product in Texas comes from. I’m not really concerned about another Great Recession…in our world, when you look at those markets specifically, we’re confident someday that the rig counts will go back up. That’s sort of the normal oil and gas cycle. Things like that will affect us, hopefully positively, in the future in big ways.
While business often feels like it is booming in a state sequestered from the growing pains felt by the world at large, many cultural residuals will influence the way in which commercial construction companies typically operate.
This article is based on information found in Construction Dive’s 50 States of Construction series.