AIA Billings Index Indicates COVID-19's Serious Impacts on Firms' Businesses  

Billings at architecture firms plummeted in March as the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell by 20.1 points to a score of 33.3 for the month (a score over 50 indicates increasing billings, a score below 50 indicates declining billings). This is by far the largest single month decline the index has seen in its nearly 25-year history, far surpassing the declines of 9.4 points seen at the start of the 2001 recession and 8.3 points seen at the start of the Great Recession. It reflects just how quickly and fundamentally business conditions have changed across the country and around the world in the last month as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABI also indicated staggering drops in future work. Also of interest are ways that firms surveyed say they are "belt tightening" in wake of the downturn.