Business View - February 2015 9
information for the Index via surveys and other proprietary collection methods, including physically counting all
fixed cranes appearing on each city’s skyline. This count is performed twice yearly and provides the baseline
data for the Index. For the inaugural North American edition, crane counts were taken in each city on Aug. 1,
2014 (baseline count) and again on Nov. 1, 2014.
The North American RLB Crane Index also indicates that residential projects in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Hono-
lulu, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle are responsible for the majority of cranes populating the city skylines,
with the majority of the projects being condominium and apartment developments.
The Index further indicates that:
• Denver’s market shows approxi-
mately 92 percent of cranes are
active on residential and mixed-use
residential projects
• Honolulu’s residential cranes are
leading the count at nearly 53 per-
cent
• New York’s construction market is
gaining strength and is being driv-
en by increased demand for higher
quality, multi-family residential de-
velopments
• Seattle is experiencing a large in-
crease of activity, with 50 percent of
cranes on residential projects
• In Phoenix and San Francisco,
commercial and mixed-use projects
have the most cranes active
• Other market sectors across the
U.S. exhibiting growth in crane counts
include hospitality and healthcare.
“Our findings indicate that residen-
tial developments are driving growth
across the U.S.,” Anderson said. “We
expect that this growth – which in-
cludes redevelopment, renovation,
and expansion projects – will con-
tinue to increase throughout 2015.”
