2020 has brought about the greatest uncertainty in the construction and demolition sector since the Great Depression. Fallout from COVID-19-related slowdowns and work-from-home mandates, along with a presidential election, has many questioning what the near future might hold.

Construction & Demolition Recycling (C&DR) talked with Chris Godek, president of the National Demolition Association (NDA) and owner of New England Yankee Construction LLC, about recent shakeups in the demolition space and the opportunities that may be present in 2021 and beyond.

C&DR: How do you assess how demo contractors fared in 2020 and the general state of the industry as we move towards the end of the year?

Chris Godek (CG): The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics points to the construction industry having added 26,000 net jobs in September. During the last five months, the industry has added 689,000 jobs, recovering approximately 64 percent of the jobs lost since the start of the pandemic. Employment in the nonresidential construction employment sector rose by 4,000 net jobs in September, and in the three months since June, residential construction employment has increased nearly 3 percent while nonresidential employment has slipped 0.2 percent.