ABSTRACT
Most industries are a reflection of the society and economy they serve. The construction industry, being largely a service industry, must respond to the vagaries that its clientele demands: they want it good, cheap and fast, where and when they need it and to a level of specificity they will decide. In order to deal with this client-driven environment, the industry has evolved an unusual economic structure. This chapter will explore the unique set of characteristics the industry has adopted and, after reviewing more details of its organization and methods of delivering its products, go on in later chapters to an historical analysis of how this disposition has taken place over the centuries. The chapter continues with some statistics on where the money spent on construction goes and then lists 17 characteristics that define the industry and which have developed over its history to protect its cohesion. The organization of the industry is outlined and the methods used to deliver its products, that is the finished facilities, are briefly described. Overall the chapter gives a compact overview of the construction industry today before describing in following chapters how the American industry developed into the format described and the speculates on where it may be headed.
