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While questions saturate the construction market’s future, industry leaders still see strong resiliency.

Commercial builders typically have a three-to-five-year horizon for planning and implementation. Tim Johnson, general manager and executive vice president of Skanska USA Building, said time will tell whether there will be long-term economic ripples from the pandemic that affect contracting businesses in the Portland-metro area.

鈥淲e believe the market is strong, and if our pipeline and planned pursuits are an indicator, there will be few recession-type concerns,鈥� he said about Skanska’s 2021 projections.

Skanska is looking to rededicate itself to carbon reduction through use of mass timber, Johnson said. The company is focusing on wood because it requires less preparation, less handling, less packaging and less refinement, he said.

Skanska has set a goal to reduce its carbon emissions globally by 50 percent by 2030. The company is using technology to calculate emissions and refine its resource strategies.

鈥淏y being proactive in our planning and building choices today, we will help work towards achieving this lofty goal,鈥� Johnson said.

Aside from managing projects and dealing with the pandemic, Skanska is striving to increase diversity in its workforce, and form relationships with diverse vendors and project partners, Johnson said.

Greg Holloran, operations manager for Turner Construction, said there’s still a lot of uncertainty, especially with the market. But he believes that could soon change.

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is the 鈥渇irst piece of certainty that we have seen that has the potential to change something in the next coming months dramatically,鈥� he said.

The economy has been through a formidable storm, but Holloran said Turner still believes work will be available.

When the pandemic initially hit, Perlo Construction Vice President of Business Development Todd Duwe said the firm was trying to get its arms around business.

The company has since focused on its workers’ welfare to ensure there aren’t any outbreaks on job sites.

Contractors made sure they were following social distancing rules, Duwe said, because if one project team didn’t follow the rules, the whole industry could have been shut down.

鈥淚t was a kindred spirit 鈥� didn’t matter if we were competitors,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s an industry, we’re all in this together. As an industry, we were concerned about keeping our job sites safe.鈥�

Perlo Construction volunteers made face masks for employees and handwashing stations for job sites.

鈥淲e got our team intact through (2020) and are marching forward full steam ahead while staying vigilant,鈥� Duwe said. 鈥淲e still see good potential for projects in front of us.鈥�