The economic outlook for the Contractor industry in 2011 is not that bad, but it’s not as good as we’d like it either. Economists tend to keep an eye on construction equipment sales as an indicator of the business sector as a whole. Exports play a minor role in this analysis as they will not represent growth in this country, but rather abroad.. Construction equipment bought “in-house” if you will is a much better gauge to work with. In this article, we’ll take a look at what the experts are seeing and, as a result, predicting.

According to Reed Construction Data, growth in construction equipment exports have been sluggish yet steady for the past 6 months, yet still remain higher than it was in February. Exports however are the main reasons for what little improvement there has been, indicating that we are not doing well domestically. However, a survey conducted in Q1-2010 states that 6 out of 10 contractors intend to purchase new construction equipment this year. In this same survey, roughly 4out of 10 distributors believe that their sales will incline. The confidence level isn’t that high, but at least it’s there.

The results of the survey concerning used equipment are better though. With distributors, 52% predict that used construction equipment domestic sales will climb in late 2010 going through into 2011, while only 11% see a decline. If the disparity in numbers between the contactors and distributors concerning exports are a true indictor, then we should be doing better domestically. In other words, improvement for the domestic construction equipment industry is on the way, but it’s going to be slow, and looked at every step of the way with a leery eye. But it’s still good news, because as the construction industry goes, so goes the nation, and all indicators point to a slow but steady recovery.

So domestically, we are in a little better shape than we were last year. But how are the exports doing? If you’re dealing with the Asian market in general and the Chinese and Indian markets in particular, you are doing very well indeed. Just about everywhere else in the world, Russia and Europe especially, are seeing decreases across the board. As the global economy though slowly improves and dealers replace their inventory, sales are expected to rise roughly 10% globally.

So all in all, the economic outlook for 2011 is fair. No one said that getting out of this recession was going to be easy, and they were right. But things overall have been on a steady uptick, and that in turn helps people gain confidence. And in the contractor industry, that means more construction, more sales, and a continually improving bottom line. Some people say that economic recovery for America starts here. If that indeed is the case, then all indicators point to a brighter financial future. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Having confidence is a good business practice, being over confident on the other hand, is not.