Dive Brief:

• Contractors who are up to speed on how to erect and maintain healthy buildings can gain a market edge because building owners care about how employee health and well-being affect their bottom line.
• The finding comes from a new report by McGraw Hill Construction, which found in a survey that fewer contractors think about how their construction decisions will affect occupant health than they think about energy savings, improved productivity or aesthetics.
• Three-quarters of building owners in the survey said they care about how buildings affect employee health because that affects productivity, health care costs and absenteeism, but many do not know all the factors involved, which gives contractors an opportunity to educate and differentiate themselves in the market.

Dive Insight:

Building owners will spend 10 times more on employees than on building maintenance and operation, but they are much more aware of how construction decisions affect the smaller expenses. Contractors who can explain how construction decisions will affect the larger resource – workers – can save clients significant money with even small percentage reductions in expenses.