New CEO Of Boston Construction Firm On Navigating Development Slowdown, Tariff Uncertainty

David Fenton last month became CEO of a Boston-area construction firm at a challenging time for the industry. A slowdown in development has reduced work for contractors, tariffs have added pressure to already high construction costs, and immigration raids have made jobsites a target. 

Fenton, who took the top role at Cranshaw Construction after two decades at Suffolk Construction, the largest general contractor in Massachusetts, spoke to Bisnow about how he sees the market today and how he is navigating these issues.

“No one can predict the future, but we do keep our eyes on the commodity markets,” Fenton said. “Our subcontractors and trade partners are extremely focused on the details of the tariffs, and they know the impacts and how they're dealing with them.”

The Trump administration’s tariff policies have shaken up the economic math for construction materials across the country, but New England is particularly vulnerable to the tariffs on Canadian imports.

Last month, the Trump administration increased tariffs on all Canadian imports from 25% to 35%, and it added a 50% tax on semifinished copper products. 

Canada is the Northeast's largest trading partner, making up $27B in imported goods in 2024. In Massachusetts, Canadian imports were valued at roughly $11.4B last year. For construction firms, this includes lumber, metals and other building materials that are becoming more expensive to import.

“The tariffs, as they fluctuate between us and our neighbors up north, do impact our ability to do work,” Fenton said. “I think everybody in construction really wants predictability, and I think those tariffs and the uncertainty is one of the causes for what's going on in the current conditions.”

Development activity has remained slow in recent years in Massachusetts and around the country amid high interest rates, rising construction costs and other economic uncertainty.

The number of housing units under construction in the Boston area earlier this year fell to a 10-year low of 4.4% of the market's overall inventory. Massachusetts ranked the sixth-lowest state for housing starts in 2024, with 201 building permits per 100,000 residents.

As a general contractor, Fenton said his company works with developers to find ways to make projects pencil.

“Our leaders at Cranshaw are day-to-day involved with owners, on budgets and on schedules and making sure that we are providing the best value in a reliable sense to them that we can,” he said. “It is the puzzle that everybody's trying to work on right now.”

The life sciences sector has been hit particularly hard in Massachusetts, with many projects that were built over the last three years still sitting empty. This has led to far fewer new lab projects for contractors to work on, but Fenton said there is still work to be done within existing buildings.

“Where we're applying our focus right now is a lot of tenant improvements and repurposing of space right where there's a lot of clients that want space, or owners are moving some folks around,” he said.

“We're making sure that we are extremely flexible and, again, providing the end user and the owners the predictability to get into spaces and shine up their buildings, if you will, and provide new spaces that take advantage of the existing inventory supply.”

As the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement actions, it is becoming an issue the construction industry must confront. A survey from the Associated General Contractors of America last month found 35% of contractors have been directly or indirectly impacted by immigration enforcement at jobsites, and that number is expected to rise.

Fenton, who just started with Cranshaw five weeks ago, said the company hasn’t discussed it in executive meetings during that time and declined to comment on how it might handle immigration raids on jobsites.

He said immigration is one of many issues with a lack of predictability that present a challenge for the construction industry. But as he ramps up in his new CEO job, Fenton is leaning on his experience in the sector.

Fenton spent the last two decades working at Suffolk Construction, most recently as the company's chief operating officer. While at Suffolk, he worked on several major projects, including 10 World Trade in the Seaport and South Station Tower.

He also acted as the executive in charge of the company's reentry into federal government work. Fenton said that his time at Suffolk — though different work from what he is working on at Cranshaw — has helped shape his approach to leadership.

“There's a lot of good things from Suffolk that we can apply here,” Fenton said. “I want to make sure we maintain the family feel of the company. I want to make sure we maintain the connections of the people and apply the processes and technologies that we had at Suffolk and utilize them in a way that helps us grow healthily.”

Newton-based Cranshaw Construction has been in business since 1983. The firm is an affiliate of National Development, one of the region's largest development firms, which just went through its own executive shake-up earlier this year.

Cranshaw has completed more than 35M SF of suburban and downtown projects ranging from life sciences and healthcare to multifamily and mixed-use. It has worked on several major projects, including Prospect Union Square apartments in Somerville, Arsenal Yards, Assembly Row Phases 1 and 2, and Radius apartments in Brighton.

Cranshaw has also worked with several big companies, including Federal Realty Investment Trust, Lahey Health, Edens, WS Development and The Mount Vernon Co.

Fenton said he has major growth plans for the company.

He is targeting expansion in the multifamily, life sciences and mixed-use sectors, as well as two of Boston's largest industries: higher education and healthcare. Although there is uncertainty around tariffs, Fenton said he is excited for the future.

“We want to grow smartly,” he said. “We want to take advantage and utilize the foundations of Cranshaw and the portfolios and the clients and the people and relationships that we built over the years, and expand on that.”