One third of design companies already have more work than last year

Prague - A third of project companies currently have more work than in the same period last year, and more than half are about the same. The directors of these companies estimate that the project work sector will grow by almost five percent year-on-year this year (by 4.6%). This is evident from the Quarterly Analysis of Czech Construction, which is available to ČTK. A slight growth is expected to continue next year.
     Only one in ten companies (12%) reports having fewer contracts than a year earlier. Currently, companies have contracts booked on average for half a year. "The project work market is slowly reviving, but a sudden increase is not expected. This year, the volume of project work will increase by 4.6% and a gradual improvement of 3.7 percent will continue in 2016," noted Jiří Vacek, director of the analytical company CEEC Research.
     Growth is also expected by Petr Ščurkevič, director of the Civil Engineering Design division at K4. "I anticipate that the project work market will begin to grow at a mild pace. A larger share of this growth will be - at least in civil engineering - generated by clients from the private sector. The public sector in civil engineering is still stagnant and is still paralyzed by competition for the lowest price," says Ščurkevič.
     In recent years, the price for project and architectural work has been very low due to a lack of contracts and intense competitive struggle, and in some cases reached dumping levels.
     "In the area of project work, we perceive an improvement over the last two years; however, it is a very challenging environment. The main problem here is probably the low price level, where prices fell during the crisis and have essentially remained at that level ever since," noted Boris Zupančič.