Cincinnati Finally Breaks Ground on Its $540M Convention Hotel
Portman broke ground July 21 on a 700-room, $540M Marriott convention headquarters hotel in downtown Cincinnati, with Skanska building toward a 2028 finish.
Construction Partners Buys Its Way Into Oklahoma’s Data-Center Paving Boom
Construction Partners closed its Ellsworth Construction buy on July 13, pushing into Tulsa and Oklahoma City paving as data-center sitework demand climbs.
Construction’s Next Robot Model: Hire the Machine, Not Buy It
Robotics firms are moving to a ‘hire’ model, deploying autonomous machines as subcontractors billed per unit of work, a procurement motion construction already understands.
MasTec Buys Superior Group for $1.65B as Grid Work Consolidates
MasTec agreed to buy Superior Group for $1.65B, adding electrical crews and equipment to its utility division as grid modernization drives contractor consolidation.
Architecture Billings Sink Again, and Data Centers Can’t Save Everyone
The Architecture Billings Index fell to 44.5, its weakest since January, as economic uncertainty, higher energy costs and rising materials weigh on design demand.
America’s Nuclear Order Book Tops 70 Gigawatts
More than 70 gigawatts of new U.S. nuclear demand is in the pipeline, much of it small and advanced reactors ordered by hyperscalers chasing firm power for AI.
A Window Coating Startup Bets Retrofits Beat Replacements
NxLite closed $16.6M to scale energy-saving coatings that can be applied to glass and retrofitted into existing commercial windows, cutting a major source of building heat loss.
New York Finally Moves to Take Its Sidewalk Sheds Down
New York is pushing to clear the sidewalk sheds that have become permanent fixtures, balancing a facade-safety law born of tragedy against streets buried in scaffolding.
Gen Z Is Choosing the Welding Torch Over the Lecture Hall
As AI unsettles white-collar entry jobs, more of Gen Z is choosing trade school and construction careers, though convincing parents and peers is still a hurdle.
A Miami Startup 3D-Prints Seawalls That Double as Reefs
Kind Designs raised $10M to scale 3D-printed ‘Living Seawalls’ that protect coastal property while functioning as artificial reefs and improving water quality.
SpaceX Alumni Raise $115M to Turn Excavators Into Robots
TerraFirma raised $115M, including a $100M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, to retrofit heavy construction equipment into remotely operated, semi-autonomous robots.
California’s New Change-Order Law Puts a Clock on Private Jobs
California’s Private Works Change Order Fair Payment Act sets hard deadlines for resolving change-order claims on private projects, with 2% monthly interest on wrongly withheld amounts.
San Francisco’s All-Electric Renovation Rule Is Live, and It Reprices Remodels
San Francisco now requires major renovations to go all-electric for applications filed on or after July 1, 2026, reshaping how contractors scope and bid remodels.
Summer Heat Should Be a Bid Line Item, Says Minnesota’s AGC Safety Director
AGC of Minnesota’s safety director argues contractors should price summer cooling into bids the way they already price winter heating, instead of absorbing it.
Whistleblowers Say Kennedy Center Repairs Skipped the Spec, and the Rust Came Back
Former Kennedy Center project managers allege renovations were rushed for a December ceremony, using a cheaper primer than specified and no-bid contracts.
A Kansas City Just Proved CMAR Works on Wastewater, and Owners Are Watching
McCarthy and Black & Veatch completed Lawrence, Kansas’ $74.3 million plant overhaul, the city’s first CMAR wastewater job, without taking the plant offline.
Input Prices Fell 1.1% in June. Don’t Bid Off That Number.
Construction input prices dropped 1.1% in June on cheaper oil, but the data was collected five weeks before release and oil has since rebounded roughly 15%.
Deere Has to Hand Over Its Repair Software for the Next 10 Years
Deere settled an FTC and five-state lawsuit, agreeing to give independent repair providers the same diagnostic software and tools it gives authorized dealers.