Alaska's construction industry: high hopes.

• Author: Gerhart, Clifford
• Position: Industry Overview

The state's construction industry expects good years in 1995 and 1996. Big projects around Alaska are boosting building, from commercial properties to private homes, from Southeast to the Interior.

"Good and getting better" seems to be the general consensus from Alaska's construction industry. Downsizing in the oil patch has not slowed down the state's contractors, who had a good 1994 and are expecting 1995 to be even better.

Neal Fried, an economist with the Alaska Department of Labor, reports construction employment at an annual average of 12,500 in 1994, an increase of 1,000 workers over 1993. In March, the state Department of Occupational Licensing reports 3,831 licensed contractors plus 763 active residential contractors.

Jim Fergusson is area manager for Kiewit Construction, a large statewide contractor that has worked on such projects as the Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood, the Fort Knox gold mine in Fairbanks and airplane hangars at Elmendorf. He says Kiewit had a good 1994 and is looking forward to an excellent 1995. He sees a lot of activity in Anchorage and Fairbanks but thinks Southeast will be "quiet."

Fergusson is optimistic about the long-term future for the state's contractors and thinks the industry has matured beyond the boom-and-bust cycles into a small, not very volatile market.

"Historically, the construction market's role has been one of supporting our cornerstone industries. We enjoy good labor peace, and we have good craftsmen, the kind of people who are willing to work when it's 20 below," Fergusson says.

Nationally, the construction industry is feeling pretty optimistic. The CIT Group, a Livingston, N.J.-based company that tracks the industry, shows contractor confidence levels 11 points up from last year, at a 10-year high. The survey shows the Pacific region, which includes Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, has confidence levels below the national average, but still up from last year.

In March, Gov. Tony Knowles released a "back-to-basics" capital budget which, including all funds, totaled $658 million. According to a press release from the governor's office, this budget provides matching funds for more than $388 million from the federal government, mostly to improve Alaska's roads, docks, airports, and water and sewer systems.

An additional $135 million comes from sources such as airport revenues, private-sector matching funds and the Alaska Housing Finance Corp.

Bob King, Gov. Knowles' press secretary, says that this budget is not much more than last year's $600 million capital budget and is way down from the budgets of the early 1980s, which were over $1 billion.

...