Looking to the future of the industry

By Emma Peterson.

Examine market growth and industry shifts with Paul Trombitas and the FMI 2025 North American Construction Outlook report.

From new tariffs to changing immigration policies and more, 2025 has been an interesting year for the construction industry. To help you get a better understanding of what is going on in our market, FMI Research created a 2025 North American Construction Outlook report. To learn more about this, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Paul Trombitas for an episode of Contractor Outlook. Paul is a partner at FMI with a focus on the building products sector team. This position means that he is incredibly knowledgeable of the dynamic challenges facing members of our industry, whether they are manufacturers, contractors, architects or another type of professional.

When looking at this year’s North American Construction Outlook report, Paul noted that there’s a variety of factors affecting the industry right now. He elaborated, “It's the political climate, affordability rates, technological trends and advancements. On top of it all, you also have generational transitions. The dynamic market we see today is from all of these converging together right now.”  

While a lot of these factors seem challenging and stressful, Paul noted that we are still seeing a very favorable growth market of the construction industry. He explained, “If we look at just 2025 data center spending, it’s anticipated to be $30 billion, which is substantially higher than it was in 2020.” Looking at that in terms of spending, there has been a slight drop in the last five years. Paul shared, “When we look from 2023 to 2024, we saw 6% growth. And then moving from 2024 to 2025, it's 2%. So a slowing of growth, but it is still growth.” And the outlook for the future remains strong. Paul explained, “Overall, we're seeing more stabilization and while we anticipate 2025 to 2026 to be lower growth years, it is then predicted for a return to higher annual growth rates from 2027 to 2028.”

Read the transcript, Listen to the episode or Watch the full conversation to learn more about FMI’s 2025 North American Construction Outlook report and the future of the construction industries.