President Trump's much-anticipated infrastructure plan, announced in mid-February, has halted with no sign of legislative action in 2018. A nationwide investment in an infrastructure overhaul is overdue for most communities throughout the U.S., as transportation, energy and water infrastructure continue to deteriorate and create high maintenance costs at all levels of government. The proposed $200 billion in direct investment the federal government planned to allocate over the next decade was intended to incentivize local and state governments to invest heavily in those sectors.

The U.S., however, is facing a true construction bottleneck characterized by a surge in remodeling and a new construction rebound, as well as rising disaster recovery costs, all of which will inhibit the construction industry's ability to handle additional projects as part of the infrastructure plan. When coupled with mounting material prices, low unemployment and an acute lack of domestic skilled labor, the already strained construction industry could face even greater construction and labor costs as well as longer timelines that would create an unsustainable situation for the industry expected to execute on our shared desires for updated and improved infrastructure.

Related: Piece by piece: The state of affairs in the construction industry

A saturated construction market

As many communities know firsthand, the U.S. is in the midst of a remodeling boom. Since 2010, the U.S. has experienced a 30% increase in residential remodels, growing at about 5% annually since 2011, according to data released by BuildFax.