Czech construction companies are currently running at 92 percent capacity on average, but according to a recent survey of managers, this is expected to fall to just 81 percent by the first quarter of next year. The companies surveyed have orders for the next eight months, which was the same as last year for half of them, but was lower for 37 percent of them. The hope for now is that this crisis won’t hit the construction sector as hard as the last one in 2008, which resulted in five years of falling revenues. According to the research company CEEC , contractors have enjoyed three straight years of growth, but 2020 is certain to end that streak. Already, the volume of business of business has fallen 6.6 percent through September. The biggest problem isn’t a lack of orders, at least for now, but rather a lack of workers. “I expect construction will stagnate at best next year,” said Baumit’s director Pavel Med. “Regions and towns will have to solve more pressing priorities. They will probably have to deal with greatly limited income, which logically will lead to a dramatic reduction in investments.”
