The ABC Construction Backlog Indicator reached 8.6 months in March 2026. Data center contractors are carrying 10.6 months of committed work. All other contractors average 8.3 months. The ABC CBI is a forward-looking measure of the months of work contractors currently have under contract, based on monthly member surveys. The March 2026 reading of 8.6 months is higher than the December 2025 reading of 8.2 months, which was already one of the strongest readings in recent years. The backlog is not settling. It is building.
The composition of that backlog matters for Texas. Data center contractors at 10.6 months are running the longest pipelines in the industry, and Texas is one of the most active data center markets in the country. The Stargate campus in Abilene, the Aligned Data Centers campus in Hale County, the Shackelford County and Milam County Stargate sites, and the nearly 20 data center projects underway or planned in the Austin area alone are all contributing to that data center backlog figure. Beyond data centers, TxDOT’s $21.2 billion fiscal year 2026 highway program, the NTMWD’s $1.7 billion water capital program, the DFW Airport’s $9 billion DFW Forward program, and private industrial development across North Texas are all simultaneously converting backlog into active construction.
“The average backlog: 8.6 months (March 2026). Data center contractors: 10.6 months; all other contractors: 8.3 months.” Source: ABC Construction Backlog Indicator, March 2026 · amtec.us.com citing ABC data · May 18, 2026
What 8.6 months of average backlog means for contractors doing aggregate sourcing is that committed work is running actively for most of the year simultaneously. Contractors on jobs that break ground in Q3 and Q4 are not starting fresh schedules in an empty market. They are adding new starts to a construction environment where most resources — labor, materials, trucks, and aggregate — are already allocated against existing commitments. In that environment, aggregate sourcing relationships confirmed before a job starts are not a preference. They are a prerequisite for staying on schedule.
[Market Intelligence] The March ABC CBI reading of 8.6 months is the most current available data on the forward demand picture. The next update will reflect April and May conditions. Given the simultaneous demand from data centers, highway programs, airport construction, and water infrastructure documented throughout spring 2026, the direction of the backlog is unlikely to reverse quickly.
The construction backlog is at 8.6 months and growing. That is not a forecast, it is a measure of committed work already under contract. Getting aggregate sourcing in place before the next job starts is the only way to operate ahead of a market running this full.