Construction has been likened to a service rather than a manufacturing industry. Secondly construction products are generally commissioned or made to order. Each product is made or assembled on a particular site for a particular client. The role and responsibilities of each participant in the process have also to be legally defined. The institutional framework of the industry is largely unique to each country or State, giving local firms an edge in bidding.
Construction plays a key role in the process of economic growth and development.
The reverse is true during periods of economic decline, giving rise to a strongly cyclical pattern of output. Really dramatic growth in construction output was seen in the Middle East after the dramatic rise in oil prices in 1973, and in the Newly Industrializing Countries of Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. Construction is now expanding very fast in China. The construction sector is a big employer of labour, both skilled and unskilled. The repair and maintenance of existing structures requires even more labour than new construction.