Contractor Backlog and Confidence Rise Again in April, Buoyed by Data Centers

An April increase in construction jobs precedes an uptick in contractor confidence and backlog.

WASHINGTON, May 12—Associated Builders and Contractors reported that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.8 months in April, according to an ABC member survey conducted from April 20 to May 4. The reading is up 0.2 months from March and up 0.1 months from April 2025.

View ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index for April. View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog surged for contractors with greater than $100 million in annual revenues and is now 2.2 months higher than during April 2025. All other contractor size categories have smaller backlog than they did one year ago.

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales, profit margins and staffing levels also increased in April. The readings for all three components are higher than they were one year ago and remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

“While backlog surged to a 10-month high in April, the industry’s recent momentum is highly concentrated among a subset of contractors,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Booming data center construction has almost exclusively benefited the largest ABC members; 42% of contractors with more than 0 million in annual revenues are under contract to work on data center projects. The same is true for just 7% of contractors with less than 0 million in annual revenues. Critically, contractors under contract to work on data centers have significantly longer backlog (12.2 months) than those that are not (8.3 months).

“Despite diverging levels of backlog, ABC contractor members of all sizes remain confident about the outlook,” said Basu. “Just 1 in 5 expect their profit margins to shrink over the next six months, the fewest since January 2025, and contractors are similarly upbeat about their sales and staffing levels. The upshot is that weak construction spending data, the recent rise in oil prices and emerging materials price escalation have not diminished ABC member confidence.”

Associated Builders and Contractors is a national construction industry trade association established in 1950 with 67 chapters and more than 23,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy, ABC helps members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work.

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Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

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