Public builders flag initial tariff impacts

While a few major contractors characterized the environment as business as usual, some noted that uncertainty is keeping clients on the sidelines.

Published May 15, 2025

In the first earnings season for public construction companies since President Donald Trump announced blanket tariffs for most countries on April 2, C-suite executives mostly downplayed the impacts of that policy shift. 

Leaders at Irving, Texas-based Fluor, for instance, told investors that most of their customers were forging ahead with plans in spite of broader uncertainty. At Watsonville, California-based Granite Construction, the message was similar, as executives told shareholders money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act continued to flow. 

But beyond the business-as-usual messaging, there were undertones on the calls of a broader uncertainty hitting the market, and construction customers. Troy Rudd, CEO of Dallas-based AECOM, said the firm had seen delays and deferred decisions on a limited set of projects, an aspect that impacted the company’s revenue for the quarter. 

Similarly, Montreal, Canada-based WSP said a “very unstable” environment was snubbing potential M&A deals, while Sweden-based Skanska went so far as to downgrade its outlook for U.S. construction from strong to stable.

Although none of those comments alone would serve as cause for major concern, collectively they signal a new level of caution for builders — and their customers — one quarter into 2025. Here, Construction Dive rounds up public contractors’ earnings views in a quickly changing economic and policy environment.