Commercial construction has a healthy outlook for 2017, with a rise expected at a rate of 5.6 percent in 2017 after a growth of 5.8 percent in 2016. While recent changes may cause these numbers to show slight variations throughout the year, the team at Leon Williams Contractorsteam believes that commercial construction in Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City and Maryville should meet or exceed expectations in the coming year.

At Leon Williams Contractors, our principals have been designing and building for both the residential community and for the commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. A family business for generations, Leon Williams Contractors has worked with commercial clients throughout our area on a wide variety of projects. While we have seen a number of trends in residential construction come and go throughout the years, we believe that these commercial predictions will be a part of construction trends in the Southeast for 2017:

1. Green Building

As more and more attention is paid to the benefits of green building, businesses are beginning to inquire with their builders about incorporating green building into their project designs. For commercial properties, LEED buildings report almost 20 percent lowermaintenance costs than typical commercial buildings, while retrofit green buildings typically decrease operation costs by nearly 10 percent in one year.

2. Solar Power

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S. solar market was expected to increase by 119 percent from last year’s numbers. With 74 percent of this growth coming from commercial construction installation businesses that take advantage of solar power installations can reduce their energy costs and may be eligible for government rebates.

3. Technology

For commercial construction, incorporating technology demands that will be used by employees and customers on-site during business necessitates easy access to Wi-Fi and other related technology requirements, meaning that construction firms need to be aware of any barriers to technology access in the projects that they are creating. In addition, the trend of addingBuilding Information Modeling (BIM)to the commercial construction design process for contractors and designs means that technology associated with commercial construction will continue to grow to provide consistency and accuracy to commercial construction in 2017.

If you are looking for commercial construction or design build services in Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City or Maryville, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorsto help you utilize these construction trends for 2017 in your next project.