Construction Dive
Labor and materials are arguably the two most critical ingredients of any construction project. No buildings transform skylines, no bridges span rivers and no homes rise from foundations without them. That's why pricing of these two production components can mean cost-cutting is in store for other areas of the job budget or, given steep-enough increases, the scuttling of the project altogether.

For Construction Pros
Moody's Investors Service reports on the constraints that may result in limited spending increases in 2017 and 2018.

Harvard Business Review
What makes marketing creative? Is it more imagination or innovation? Is a creative marketer more artist or entrepreneur? Historically, the term "marketing creative" has been associated with the words and pictures that go into ad campaigns. But marketing, like other corporate functions, has become more complex and rigorous. Marketers need to master data analytics, customer experience, and product design. Do these changing roles require a new way of thinking about creativity in marketing?

Dodge Data & Analytics
At a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $706.4 billion, new construction starts in February rose 2% from the previous month, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. This was the second straight monthly increase, following a 15% hike in January, as construction starts regained the upward track following four consecutive monthly declines to close out 2016. Much of February’s advance came from a strong performance by the public works sector, led by the start of a $1.4 billion natural gas pipeline in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, plus an improved level of highway and bridge construction.

Fire Engineering
The fire service has ample justifications about large lightweight toothpick construction buildings (LLW/TPC) long before the recent Raleigh (NC) five-alarm ‘Toothpick Construction’ fire. So why is the construction industry and insurance companies not paying heed when it comes to better fire protection features?

Fast Company
Ornate buildings invite us to pore over their beautiful details, but the plain, often imposing facades of post-war concrete architecture usually make us look away–or look past them entirely. Yet in a new book called Extra Normal from Scheidegger and Spiess, Swiss photographer Serge Fruehauf focuses on their inspired details, which are often hiding in plain sight.

New York Post
It’s the New York Federal Reserve Bank versus the Atlanta Fed. The issue: the health of the US economy during the first quarter of Donald Trump’s presidency.

CISCA
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