This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchel. The Business of America is small business.

No guru I know sees small business sharper than Jean Marx, who writes a column for the Gardy newspaper, UK and US edition,

also for our hometown newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and publishes in other distinguished publications.

We begin with good news.

Gene, a very good evening to you. The reason I pay attention to construction more than anything

else is that it is a way of talking about family formation, which is a way of talking about shopping

and growth. How does it look for 2025? Good evening to you, Gene. Hey, John.

Yeah, I agree with you.

I mean, I consider the construction industry, both commercial and residential, to be such a critical industry, particularly for the small businesses that I write about and my clients as well.

There are so many small and mid-sized companies that are both directly and indirectly affected by the

how the construction industry is going.

And, you know, the industry has been quite fragmented over the past couple of years.

I mean, it has remained, you know, growing.

It's just not at the same, you know, pace.

Obviously, personal and residential real estate sales have been stagnant because of high interest rates.

And because of those high interest rates as well, they have been pulling back on construction projects.

You know, you and I love to talk about the Architects Billings Index, and that index has remained to be like in the dole jumps but here we have a

positive uh forecast it comes from the association of the wall and ceiling industry um this is made up

of companies that well they they do exterior and internal and interior framework uh for you know for

both residential and commercial, you know,

you know, companies.

And these are, you know, very, very important part of the industry.

...