Building Construction Business Plan

Market Analysis Summary

Industry Statistics - Concrete Work

Special trade contractors primarily engaged in concrete work, including portland cement and asphalt.

Estimated number of U.S. establishments	30,214
Number of people employed in this industry	230,338
Total annual sales in this industry	$21 million
Average employees per establishment	8
Average sales per establishment	$.7 million

Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing portland cement concrete manufactured and delivered to a purchaser in a plastic and unhardened steel.

Estimated number of U.S. establishments	5,798
Number of people employed in this industry	89,662
Total annual sales in this industry	$19 million
Average number of employees per establishment	17
Average sales per establishment	$6.5 million

4.1 Market Segmentation

The housing industry has proceeded at a red-hot pace for several years running. An all-time record was set in 1998, when 886,000 new-site single family homes were sold. That represented a 10% gain from the robust total of 804,000 homes sold in 1997, and an 8.1% rise from the prior record of 819,000 units in 1977. Single-family housing construction accounted for $48 million of the total $125 million generated in the industry.

Home sales strengthened even further during most of 1999's first 10 months. In that period, new single-family home sales increased by 4.8% on a year-to-year basis, to 791,000 units, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Through October 1999, seasonally adjusted sales had exceeded 800,000 on an annualized basis in every month since the start of 1998.

The record setting string of home sales since the second half of 1997 has forced builders to pick up the pace of their construction activity. During 1998, total starts increased by 9.7% to 1.62 million units. Starts for single family units moved up 12 % for the year, and those of multifamily units were ahead by 1.5%. As an indication of building activity at year-end 1999, housing starts in November 1999 came in at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.6 million units.

The table below outlines the total market potential of the three targeted market segments in the served markets (in US$ thousands).

(Information provided by Standard & Poor's)