The scale of the divergence
Main contract awards rose 120% year-on-year even as project starts fell 28% over the same period. That gap suggests clients are committing to work further in advance, or that planning and mobilisation delays are lengthening the time between award and ground-breaking.
What is likely driving it
Rising build costs and tighter financing conditions may be pushing clients to lock in contracts early to secure current pricing, while pushing back the actual start date to manage cash flow or complete design development. Either way, the gap represents deferred, not cancelled, demand.
Sequencing delivery around deferred starts
Contractors holding a growing book of awarded-but-not-started work should model realistic mobilisation windows for each project rather than assuming standard lead times, and flag material and labour procurement early enough to avoid a bottleneck when several deferred projects move to site together.
Back to Insights