May 13, 2020 – Electri International—a foundation founded in 1989 by the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) in the U.S.—released “Pandemics and construction productivity: quantifying the impact”, a report on the impact of COVID-19 on cost and schedule in the construction industry.

“While the [U.S.] federal government classified infrastructure as essential, many segments of the construction industry shut down completely in response to COVID-19,” noted Sonja Rheaume of Christenson Electric (Portland, Ore.), and Electri council chair. “Our comprehensive study includes research data from NECA contractors, which highlights productivity and hours lost due to new social distancing, PPE guidelines and other pandemic-related factors. It will be a useful tool for contractors to measure these impacts on their projects.”

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The report evaluates activity from 6 January 2020 to 8 May 2020, tracking pandemic mitigation activity, benchmarking productivity and assessing the impact on businesses and projects.

“Pandemics” aims to achieve three key goals:

1. Quantify the impact on jobsite productivity

2. Provide a calculator for contractors to measure the associated impacts

3. Provide tangible information for pricing future projects

Electri’s research determined that the electrical contracting industry’s response to coronavirus had a 12% impact on productivity, and that profitability was subsequently affected by up to 100%, depending on the percentage spent on labour. The findings provide substantiation for what will likely be billions of dollars in change orders across the U.S. construction industry.

The full report and the contractor calculator can be downloaded at www.electri.org/research.

Additional resources include:

Pandemics and construction productivity: quantifying the impact (Initial Findings and Recommendations)

Pandemic business impacts overview (video)

Pandemics and construction productivity study overview (video)

Pandemics and construction productivity study – detailed study results (video)

Mitigation tracking overview (video)

Change Order Calculator (video)

* Thanks for the tip, Robert!