A survey of fixed tower cranes in 14 mostly North American cities showed construction and development caution prior to President Trump’s April 2nd announcement of his full tariff blitz.

The overall number of cranes held steady in the first quarter of 2025, reports construction cost expert and manager Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB). But that result demonstrated to RLB the “market’s overall hesitation to move
forward with major construction projects due to
economic uncertainty.”

Seven of the 14 cities showed a decrease in activity from the prior period of more than 20%, RLB reported. The RLB Crane Index survey gives a simplified measure of the current state of the
construction industry’s workload in each city.

Toronto, Honolulu and New York City showed new activity, mostly for residential and multiuse developments.

The caution came despite favorable financial trends. “Interest rates have declined,” RLB stated, “and the rate of construction cost increases has
slowed since the previous” tower crane survey.

Seattle had one of the biggest drop-offs, a 39%
decrease from 28 to 17 cranes from the Q3 2024. In contrast, Toronto has 23 more cranes than in the prior quarter, for a total of 80 overall.

The measurement for Toronto was changed in Q3 2024, RLB notes. It revised the radius for crane counting, “prioritizing the downtown core
area, which has the highest
density of construction projects,” which accounts for 35% of the total crane count.