Webs of steel are decorating the Northern skies, giving residents the first true sign that spring, and construction season, has arrived. The sheer number of tall steel displays shows promise for a busy building boon this year.

“It's pretty much chaos, but it's organized chaos,” said Brian Meissner, principal at the architect firm ECI/Hyer. “It's all happening this year.”

He said that so many mega-projects are underway at the same time, this season is reminiscent of the anomalous Project '80s days, when the state was flush in oil revenue wealth and funded high-cost projects across the land.

These days, a good portion of the wealth is complements of the private sector, erecting multi-story office buildings, large retail outlets and dozens of smaller-scale buildings.

More than $7 billion in work is slated for this year, and much of that money will be spent between now and the first heavy cold snap. Private-sector building is expected to reach nearly $4.56 billion, while public spending should be at $2.45 billion.

The construction industry has experienced nearly 20 years of consecutive growth. While this year's total construction budget is a 7 percent increase compared to 2006, spending is actually flat when taking inflation into account.

Economists predicted the number of jobs would remain the same, or increase only slightly. With all the work slated, however, the industry may prove the economists wrong.

The private sector has just started work on several multi-million-dollar projects, including two 14-story office buildings in midtown Anchorage and at a shopping center on the east side. Work will continue on a shopping complex in Mountain View, as well as on hotels in midtown and condominiums in the downtown area.

The natural resources industries expect to spend $1.6 billion throughout the year, mainly on the North Slope on pipeline maintenance and at several mines around the state.

On the big-ticket public sector side, work started this spring on the Atwood parking garage, the Integrated Science Building at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a few housing and hangar projects on military bases.

Set to start this spring is a Veteran's Administration clinic, several large-scale road projects and, just awarded, a new library in Girdwood. Work continues at the Anchorage and Fairbanks airports on terminal and runway upgrades, as well as the expansion of the Port of Anchorage and the Anchorage convention center.

Work should begin this year on a new fisheries school in Juneau for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and on schools in Savoonga, Saint Michael, New Stuyahok, and at Anchorage's Clark Middle School.

The shrink factor

Workers start perimeter work April 16 on the new parking garage across the street from the Atwood Building. The garage is one of many large-scale projects being worked on this construction season. PHOTO/Rob Stapleton/AJOC

Frozen ground and cold temperatures forced a delay of about two weeks on several projects, while others had to pull out the electric blankets and steam pipes to thaw the ground so they could start digging to stay on schedule. Frozen ground tends to break pieces off of expensive excavation equipment.

Road construction, which already has a season that may run 24 weeks a year, will be the hardest hit, said Dick Cattanach of the industry trade group Associated General Contractors of Alaska.

Road crews had some challenges finishing jobs last year thanks to an unusually rainy summer, and this year will have to wait until the thaw, likely well into May, before they can start work.

Cattanach said that, though he didn't quite understand how, in really cold weather, heavy traffic tends to drive the level of frost farther down into the ground, taking even longer to thaw enough to do road work.

Meissner confirmed the phenomenon, though admitted he didn't understand how it works either. Still, he said, frost levels delved down to 7 feet in some areas, where it typically reaches only 3 feet.

Frozen dirt also has delayed home builders, a sector already facing a tough year. The housing market in previously fast-growing sectors — mainly Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley — has slowed.

Builders say they still have large inventories in the Valley from last year's work. The Anchorage Home Builders Association predicted a 14 percent decline in new housing starts this year. The association said that home builders had few, if any, foundations poured at the end of last season, meaning they have little to work on until the thaw. It'll be at least mid-May until work starts on new homes.

Temperatures must be kept at about 40 degrees to pour concrete. That can be done through tenting, but that adds greatly to the cost.

Anchorage Sand and Gravel's Steve Lovs said his company didn't call crews in until recently, about two weeks later than normal. Crews were pouring concrete for commercial work in early April, using hot water for the mix and covering the material with curing blankets.

“That's no different than other years, it's just happening later,” he said.

Leveling prices

For the first time in at least three years, builders aren't sweating over materials prices.

“We had crazy escalation for the last three years, but this year, we're not seeing it,” Meissner said. “For the first time in three or four years, we're seeing bids come in where we expect them to be.”

Last year at this time, building suppliers said they couldn't predict the cost of materials for the next day, they just knew everything was going up; percentage increases were in the single digits one week and double digits the next. That earned worry lines for contractors bidding on jobs. Contingencies for materials price escalation became common.

“A real panic happened last year,” Meissner said. “This year, everyone is in the business of getting it done.”

It helps that prices for steel and most other materials seem to have settled, though copper and asphalt prices are still unknowns. Copper has seen huge increases over the past several years, while oil prices have kept asphalt prices unstable.

To lock in prices early, many builders this year are buying then storing most all the materials for the project as soon as they sign a contract, instead of waiting until they need the supplies, Meissner said. Builders are also signing subcontractors earlier.

The cost of labor will raise about 4 percent this year, about normal.

So far, contractors are not seeing a shortage in bodies, but are struggling to find workers with skills in certain areas. Engineers of all fields, as well as welders and heavy equipment operators are among the more sought-after specialists.

More to come

A lot of work is on the streets now, but dozens of bids on work that will start this year have yet to be let. And while some site work will begin in this summer's sun, a good portion of the jobs won't kick in until fall.

To come this summer are several state projects, funded in the last two years by the former Gov. Frank Murkowski administration. Gov. Sarah Palin put the kibosh on at least three Murkowski projects she deemed unnecessary, but many others will continue.

Wal-Mart may get its store on Dowling Road started again. The project was put on hold last year, after apparently running into contamination problems. Calls to the store and to its contractor have not been returned.

The big-box retailer apparently has given up on efforts to build a new south Anchorage store off of the new C Street extension because the wetlands in the area drove up costs.

But Target is a go. The retailer has plans to build a store in Wasilla and at the shopping center in East Anchorage, according to Josh Pepperd, with Davis Constructors, which is contracted to build one of the stores. A third store is rumored for South Anchorage, part of a second shopping complex to be built by Cook Inlet Region Inc.

The $37 million Atwood parking garage will have nearly 900 slots, Pepperd said. The first floor will have retail stores, featuring a high-end seafood restaurant from the owners of Orso Restaurant, and possibly a Northrim Bank branch.

Uncertainty lies with both the Corps of Engineers and with the state of Alaska.

The Corps has said it will spend $2 billion through 2010 in Alaska. While the federal agency has budgets approaching $600 million each for fiscal years 2007 and '09, its 2008 budget is half that. That may change with additional Congressional appropriations, however.

The state capital budget is also in flux. Alaska lawmakers, distracted by the gas pipeline talks, have yet to approach Gov. Palin's proposed spending bill. Departments will have to fight for every project it wants funded, however. Palin virtually stripped clean the project lists in her proposal, a new approach compared to the project-laden bills of former administrations.