The Philippine construction industry continues to be severely affected by the disruption caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The industry had been the fastest growing in the Asia-Pacific before the pandemic, recording growth of 9.1% in real terms in 2019, following growth of 14.9% in 2018. ctto

1. I. CONSTRUCTION STANDING IN THE
PHILIPPINES

2. CONSTRUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
• The Philippine construction industry continues to be severely affected by the
disruption caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The industry had
been the fastest growing in the Asia-Pacific before the pandemic, recording
growth of 9.1% in real terms in 2019, following growth of 14.9% in 2018.
However, following a sharp contraction of 30.3% in 2020, construction output
fell in Q1 2021, falling by 27.2%, due to the impact of containment measures
on the progress of construction projects across much of the country.

3. • The analyst expects the Philippine construction industry to record growth of 21.9% in 2021,
with output surpassing pre-pandemic levels in 2023. In 2022, the industry is projected to
register growth of 14.9%, and then expand by an annual average rate of 7.8% over the
remainder of the forecast period (2023-2025).
• Government programs promoting the development of affordable housing, transport and
renewable energy infrastructure are expected to continue to support the expansion of the
industry in the coming years.

4. • Philippines Construction Market Size,
Trends and Forecasts by Sector –
Commercial, Industrial, Infrastructure,
Energy and Utilities, Institutional and
Residential Market Analysis, 2022-2026

5. PROJECTION
• The construction market in the Philippines was valued at $54 billion in 2021.
The market is projected to grow at an AAGR of more than 7% during the
period 2023-2026. The Philippines construction market growth over the
forecast period will also be supported by investments in transport, electricity,
and housing projects.
• The Philippines construction market report provides detailed market analysis,
information, and insights into the Philippines construction industry, including
the growth prospects of the industry by market, project type, and construction
activity.

6. WHAT ARE THE KEY SECTORS IN THE
PHILIPPINES CONSTRUCTION MARKET?
• The key sectors in the Philippines construction
market are commercial construction, industrial
construction, infrastructure construction, energy
and utilities construction, institutional
construction, and residential construction.

7. COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN
THE PHILIPPINES
• The commercial construction projects pipeline in the Philippines includes all projects from
pre-execution to execution stage. However, the sector is dominated by late-stage projects.
The pipeline also includes a share of mixed-use developments, which comprise commercial
and residential elements.
• The project types in this sector include leisure and hospitality buildings, office buildings,
outdoor leisure facilities, retail buildings, and other commercial construction. A relaxation of
restrictions supported consumer confidence in the final quarter of last year, aiding activity in
the accommodation and food services sector in Q4 2021.
• The sector’s output over the forecast period will be supported by a gradual recovery in the
tourism sector as international tourism resumes, coupled with investments in offices, data
centers, and retail buildings.

8. INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN
THE PHILIPPINES
• The industrial construction projects pipeline in the Philippines includes all projects from
pre-planning to execution. However, the sector is dominated by early-stage projects.
• The project types in this sector include chemical and pharmaceutical plants, manufacturing
plants, metal and material production and processing plants, and waste processing plants.
• The industrial sector’s output over the forecast period will be supported by an
improvement in manufacturing and export activities, coupled with a rise in the total value
of permits issued for industrial buildings.

9. INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION MARKET
IN THE PHILIPPINES
• The pipeline of infrastructure projects in the Philippines
includes all projects from pre-planning to execution stage
and is skewed towards late-stage projects. The project
types in this sector include rail infrastructure, road
infrastructure, and other infrastructure projects.
• The infrastructure sector’s output over the forecast period
will be supported by investment in transport infrastructure
projects as part of the Build Build Build (BBB) program.

10. ENERGY AND UTILITIES CONSTRUCTION
MARKET IN THE PHILIPPINES
• Projects in the Philippines energy and utilities sector
includes all projects from pre-planning to the execution
stage. However, the sector is skewed towards early-stage
projects. The project types in this sector include electricity
and power, oil and gas, telecommunications, sewage
infrastructure, and water infrastructure.
• The sector output over the forecast period will be supported
by investments in renewable energy and telecommunication
infrastructure projects.

11. INSTITUTIONAL CONSTRUCTION MARKET
IN THE PHILIPPINES
• The institutional construction projects pipeline in the Philippines
includes all projects from pre-planning to execution, but it is
dominated by late-stage projects.
• The project types in this sector include educational buildings,
healthcare buildings, institutional buildings, research facilities, and
religious buildings. The sector’s output over the forecast period will be
supported by investments in health and education projects.

12. RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN
THE PHILIPPINES
• The pipeline of mega-projects in the residential sector
includes all projects from pre-planning to execution stage.
However, the sector is dominated by late-stage projects. The
project types in this sector include single-family housing and
multi-family housing.
• Forecast-period growth in the sector will be supported by the
Philippines’ rising population and urbanization, coupled with
government investment in housing projects and affordable
housing programs.

13. HOW MUCH IS THE CONSTRUCTION
COST PER SQUARE METER IN THE
PHILIPPINES 2022?
• Housing Index in Philippines is expected to be 12100.00 PHP/SQ.
METRE by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics
global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the
Philippines Average Construction Cost is projected to trend
around 13000.00 PHP/SQ.

14. WHAT IS LACKING IN THE
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY?
These statistics are troubling, especially with construction projects getting more complex.
Several factors have contributed to this;
poor communication between the stakeholders,
poor scheduling,
inadequate planning,
and time wastage.

15. TOP 6 CHALLENGES CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
MANAGERS FACE IN 2021
• It will be hard-pressed to find an industry that was not negatively impacted in
the last 18 months by COVID-19 (except maybe video conferencing software
and online shopping).
• This holds true for the Construction industry, which has seen a number of
ongoing challenges intensify even as new ones emerged.
• While the we enter a new phase of more hopeful economic recovery, firms,
especially construction project managers, will be grappling with intense
pressure on a number of fronts for the remainder of this year and well into
the next.

16. 1. CONTINUED SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTIONS
AND HIGH COST OF MATERIALS
• As a result of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions are still plaguing the construction industry. Basic
building materials such as tile, flooring material, metal, lumber and more are sourced by global
manufacturers, who are not only impacted by travel and shipping restrictions but by labor shortages.
• These factors are driving up costs and slowing deliveries. For instance, Verisk Analytics reported
that total reconstruction costs were up 8.12% from April 2020 to April 2021, and lumber prices
skyrocketed by 84.71%.
• With prices this high, winning new contracts — and turning a profit — will be challenging, unless firms
find ways to offset costs and differentiate themselves from other firms vying for contracts.

17. 2. CONSTRUCTION DELAYS
• The Associated General Contractors (AGC) reports that supply chain disruptions combined with rising
material costs are not only driving up the cost of construction but causing construction delays.
According to AGC, more than 75% of construction firms say projects have been postponed or cancelled
because materials were unavailable or costs went over budget.
• Supply chain disruptions are unlikely to be resolved for at least another six months. Project managers
will need to sharpen their forecasting and scheduling skills to manage client expectations for timelines
and completion dates while finding ways to work more efficiently.

18. 3. INTENSIFIED LABOR SHORTAGE
• The construction industry has been suffering from labor shortages for more than a decade — and it’s
getting worse. New research from the Associated Builders and Contractors of America (ABC) reports the
U.S. construction industry will need to add 430,000 new workers in 2021 over 2020 levels, just to keep
pace with increased demand.
• Various factors are contributing to this shortage. Many construction workers are aging out of the
industry and entering retirement. What’s more, interest in trade professions such as construction has
waned in recent years as the availability of technology-related jobs increases.
• Add to that workers being ill or quarantined because of Covid-19, and it becomes extremely difficult to
staff jobsites with skilled workers, who are not only difficult to find but cost a lot more. Construction
project managers will need to offset the cost of skilled labor, train new employees quickly, and help
crews be more productive and efficient.

19. 4. MANAGING INCREASED RISK AS A
CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGER
• On the jobsite, risk comes in many forms: safety, materials and equipment theft, and weather
delays and damage. Unfortunately, construction injury rates are 71% higher than all industries,
on average. To make matters worse, Covid-19 infections send workers home or to the hospital.
Exposures force workers to miss up to 14 days while in quarantine. All of these factors combine
and impact a firm’s ability to keep projects on track.
• Risk of theft on construction jobsites is also increasing. With materials so expensive and hard to
come by, they’re a prime target. In some areas of the country, firms are reporting single-day
losses of $10,000 or more in materials, much of which is lumber.

20. • With global warming’s massive impacts on weather patterns across the country, risk of damage from
storms and other natural disasters such as wildfires loom large. These climate-change related events
can also cause construction delays by making it impossible for crews to complete certain tasks.
• To mitigate the various types of risk on the jobsite, construction firms will need to implement 24X7
surveillance and maintain impeccable documentation to aid with any police investigations, should an
incident occur. Such documentation will be necessary to justify delays and budget increases caused by
worker absences, missing materials and weather, as well.

21. 5. COMPLIANCE
• Meanwhile, OSHA regulations become more stringent each year, and this year, the regulatory
agency added new regulations addressing the CDC’s Covid-19 guidelines. This means there’s
added pressure for firms to enforce rules and regulations — and avoid violations that result in
steep fines.
• Not only will it be critical for project managers to ensure compliance on the jobsite, they will
need an efficient way to document their efforts and prove compliance in the case of an audit, as
well. Firms can spend significant time and resources gathering data and supplying proof of
compliance to auditors because of the manual nature of the task. Those that find ways to
streamline and automate documentation will be a step ahead of other firms in reducing the costs
of compliance, and the risk of non-compliance

22. 6. TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
• According to McKinsey & Company, Covid-19 has sped up the adoption of technology in many
industries by as much as six years. And JLL’s State of Construction Tech: 2020 in 2020 states that
the construction industry adopted more technology in a single year than what would have
normally taken three years. What kind of technology? Digital collaboration platforms, scanning
tools, drones and safety-focused wearables, to name a few.
• To encourage technology adoption, firms should look for solutions that are easy to implement
and use. Solutions should integrate with existing systems such as project management software
and can then be used as part of the established workflow. Advanced construction camera
systems that enable remote viewing, collaboration features and cloud-based storage of jobsite
photos and footage will also find their way onto jobsites. These features help with cost
mitigation, scheduling, labor shortages, risk management and compliance.

23. WOOD AND CONCRETE
CONSTRUCTION

24. EVOLUTION OF MATERIALS
• The history of architecture is also the history of building materials.
Frank Lloyd Wright wrote: “The nature of the materials employed in
construction is inherent to the true nature of every good building, that is,
of the kind of construction we call Architecture.”
• He went on to say that a house “will glorify the material of which it is
composed.” Studying ancient building materials enables us to
understand how far our society has come, and how criteria for choosing
these materials have changed over time.
• Nowadays, we talk about resistance to mechanical stress, thermal and
acoustic insulation properties, breaking loads, resistance to ageing and
so on, all the way to assessing building materials’ fire
resistance, transmittance and other more or less fundamental details.

25. BUILDING MATERIALS IN ANTIQUITY
• In Antiquity, the only building materials available were what nature
provided. When mankind first formed into tribes, people tended to build
small villages of simple wooden huts roofed with animal pelts.
• Back in the Paleolithic period, these were elementary structures, offering
minimal protection from the weather. During the Neolithic period, as
climatic conditions worsened, man was forced to exploit the main
building material around him – wood – in a variety of ways, using it to
build more solid huts with real roofs, and structures raised on piles, of
which traces have been found.
• It was only at the end of the Bronze Age, around the third millennium BC,
that stone started to be seriously taken into consideration as
a construction material: we know this from edifices such as Stonehenge,
and of course the Pyramids, which were made out of extremely heavy
blocks of granite.

26. BUILDING MATERIALS, FROM ANCIENT
GREECE TO THE RENAISSANCE
• The first place that bricks were used as a building material was in
Mesopotamia, in the second millennium BC. From then on, building
materials and their characteristics rapidly evolved. Worked stone began
to be used in tandem with metal beams and staples.
• Increasingly-advanced construction techniques made it possible for
stunning cities and magnificent temples to be built in Ancient Greece.
Associating new technologies with classical building materials, stately
villas and agora offered a blueprint for European and, more specifically,
Mediterranean architecture.

27. • The Romans took things a step further, introducing an essential new
building material – concrete – that made major architectural advances
possible.
• Alongside the introduction of concrete, the Romans put bricks at the
centre of the art of masonry; stone was used no longer as an out-and-out
building material, but as cladding.
• Bricks underwent their own evolution over the centuries, from first
century BC raw bricks to the widespread use of baked bricks under
Tiberius’ reign.
• Timber was still used, particularly as the main material for building the
upper floors of insulae, buildings that stood four or five storeys high.

28. • As we know, in the Middle Ages stone once again became the main
construction material for the most important buildings, churches and
castles. This period also saw the introduction of glass, a new material
that, from then on, would be of key importance to buildings. The uptake
of glass was accelerated by the expanding Republic of Venice.
• The Renaissance heralded another change, as brick returned to oust
stone. Brick remained the undisputed construction material for many
centuries to come, leading to unique and truly ingenious works such as
Florence Cathedral’s dome. During the Renaissance, plaster became
widely used, both as an architectural element with a protective, bonding
purpose, and as an aesthetic decoration for buildings.

29. BUILDING MATERIALS, FROM THE
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO THE
PRESENT DAY
• We have seen what building materials were used in Ancient Times and
the Middle Ages. Another major watershed in this long history was
the Industrial Revolution, a huge paradigm shift that took place between
the late 18th century and the early 19th century.
• Alongside brick, metals became an important building material, most
notably iron and steel, as did reinforced concrete. The earliest works in
iron, for example the famous 1781 Iron Bridge over the River Severn in
England, the first in the world to be built out of this material, were
erected in the eighteenth century.

30. • These major new developments in building materials made it possible to
put up buildings that had previously been unthinkable. Consider that
the first skyscrapers were built at the end of the 19th century.
• The first building worthy of this name was the Home Insurance Building,
built in Chicago in 1885 and designed by William Le Baron Jenney.
Standing 55 metres tall, it is considered to be the first modern
skyscraper. Before long, the world marvelled at the Eiffel Tower, which
was built in 1889 out of 18,000 pieces of iron and some five million
bolts.

31. • The adoption of structural skeletons paved the way for contemporary
architecture, removing all previous limits. Just 130 years after the first
skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai skyscraper reached a height of 829
meters, while the Jeddah Tower is poised to break this incredible record
with a total height of 1,008 meters.
• Modern-day developments in building materials have raised additional
questions. Increasingly, people are interested in environmentally-
friendly building materials that guarantee high levels of sustainability, as
well as self-supporting and earthquake-resistant structures.
• To achieve this, a number of innovative ideas have been put forward in
recent years, such as osmotic cement, translucent concrete, and
even cardboard for construction… The history of construction
materials still seems to have many an exciting chapter left to write.

32. WOOD AND CONCRETE AS A MATERIAL

33. ADVANTAGES OF USING WOOD

39. DISADVANTAGES OF USING WOOD
• RISK OF ROTTING AND PEST-INFESTATION
• WARPING
• BURNING RISK
• FAST AGING AND HIGH MAINTENANCE

40. ADVANTAGES OF USING CONCRETE

44. DISADVANTAGES OF CONCRETE
• LOW DUCTILITY ANDTENSILE STRENGTH
• FORM WORK REQUIREMENT
• LENGTH OF CURING TIME
• DEMAND SKILLED LABOR AND STRICT QUALITY CONTROL