Says business is booming. He has been in the industry ~10 years and says these moves can act as leading indicators for building in 6-12 months. He said none of the buildings were for the government, most was commercial or churches. We live in Charlotte, but all his friends he graduated with that live in the east coast are extremely busy as well. I was skeptical, but he isn't and thinks we're headed toward recovery. I don't know what to think, but I thought I'd share.

Sold to him.

Lots of big church projects around here too over the last several years. It looks like they found a way to make member-only health clubs without paying taxes, because some of these have full gyms, pools, auditoriums, multi-color led signs, etc.

Here is the latest data on billings:

http://www.architectmagazine.com/economi....

Any number under 50 means that 12-18 months down the road business will suck. We have been there (<50) for three years give of take. The index took a sharp drop from March 2011 - July 2011. In August the index just got above 50 (51.4). We shall see where this goes in the coming months. Keep in mind if this number stays above 50 we are still won't have improvement for another 12-18 months.

A friend of mine with a software consulting business says he's seen a sudden jump in proposal requests in the last couple of months. He's hoping it's going to last for a little while; this year has otherwise been very slow for him.