Ricia Sturgeon-Hendrick
Elevator World Editor and Publisher
Old Issues, Back Again
Commercial construction is predicted to grow beginning in mid-2025. That prediction came in the fourth quarter of 2024. We are now looking at two things that could change that prediction:...
“Innovate” is the Word
While AI continues to be the main character in the innovation conversation (and a magnet for venture capital cash), the honeymoon of everyone asking ChatGPT to do ridiculous things is...
Mod Work Coming To Europe
According to ING, Europe should see a .5% increase in 2025 in the construction industry, which sank 2% in 2024. A quarter of contractors continue to struggle with labor shortages,...
Happy New Year?
Yes, I think we can count on that. According to the Modern Intelligence website, the size of the U.S. construction market is estimated at US$71.26 billion in 2024 and is...
Optimism and Apprehension
The end of 2024 can be characterized by a mix of optimism and apprehension. On the side of optimism, we have the many successful industry events that have occurred throughout...
Elections?
Every year, your editor must write an editorial in early November for the December issue. Only in election years is this significant, as you will know the voting results by...
Construction Is Cool
While the markets waited for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to drop interest rates in September, the construction industry was not waiting around. Construction starts jumped 4% in the first...
Breadth and Depth
As I write this, members of the Elevator World, Inc. team have just returned from Dubai, U.A.E., where they, along with AFAG Messen und Ausstellungen, organiser of the world's leading...
Future Ready
At the time of this writing, the Federal Reserve is preparing for its September meeting, where, likely, an interest rate cut will occur. In anticipation of this probability, total commercial...
Vacancies
The vacancy rate for office buildings continues to plague our industry. Nationwide, it is 20.1%, with San Francisco the highest at 34.5%. Predictions are that vacancy rates will be 25%...
