I’ve just returned from my 15th trip to New York, and somehow, it never gets old.

A week of meetings, one CoreNet event, a client launch party and a lot of miles covered on foot offered another valuable view of the city’s construction and real estate market.

The overwhelming impression? New York knows exactly what it is. Its market remains highly relationship-driven, confidence among construction leaders is strong and, for businesses with the right people in place, there is a real opportunity to grow.

New York Knows What It Is

One comment from the CoreNet event stayed with me: global employers choose New York because they want to be here.

They make that decision despite some of the world’s highest real estate and construction costs. The attraction is not affordability; it is access to talent, clients, capital, culture and opportunity on a scale few other cities can match.

That confidence is reflected in the office market. Manhattan businesses leased 23.2 million square feet of additional office space during the first nine months of 2025, the highest level recorded for that period since 2006. Office utilisation in Manhattan had also reached almost 80% of its pre-pandemic level by January 2025, well ahead of the average across other major and secondary US cities.

Of course, this doesn’t mean every part of the market is performing equally. Older buildings continue to face challenges, while demand is concentrating around well-located, high-quality space. However, the direction of travel is creating opportunities for landlords, designers, consultants and contractors capable of helping occupiers create workplaces people genuinely want to use.

New York’s diversity adds another dimension. More than a third of the city’s population, 36.6%, was born outside the United States. Real estate leaders are therefore designing workplaces for one of the most diverse populations in the world, balancing different expectations around culture, collaboration, accessibility and the role of the office.

It’s easy to understand why New York has been described as “The City of the World.” It’s not simply a place where international businesses operate, its global identity is part of the product.

A Big Industry That Feels Surprisingly Small

New York construction operates at an enormous scale, but the community behind it can feel remarkably tight-knit.

It’s a difficult market to enter without credibility as relationships have often been built over many years, and businesses are understandably cautious about who they trust with their projects, teams and reputations.

Once that trust has been earned, however, loyalty runs deep.

Consistent delivery leads to repeat work, repeat work leads to introductions. Over time, a strong reputation can open doors that no cold email or online meeting ever could.

That’s one of the reasons face-to-face time remains so important to me. Meeting a Principal, Equity Partner or candidate in person creates a completely different conversation. You understand more about how the business operates, where the pressure points sit and what kind of person will genuinely succeed in its environment.

Recruitment in a market like New York cannot be reduced to matching a résumé with a job description. Technical capability matters, but so do reputation, communication style, commercial judgement and the ability to build confidence with clients and project teams.

Celebrating Our Clients’ Success

I also had the pleasure of attending a client’s new business launch party during the trip.

Moments like that are a reminder of why I still love this job. When you have worked closely with people through periods of growth, helped them find key members of their team and understood the ambition behind the business, their success feels personal.

The best recruitment partnerships do not feel transactional. You become an extension of the business, invested not only in the immediate hire but in what the company is trying to build over the longer term.

My excitement at that launch party was as genuine as it would have been for my own business. That’s the level of partnership we aim to create at Capstone.

Why Specialist Knowledge Still Matters

Capstone was recently named Best Specialist Recruitment Business at The Global Recruiter Awards. The judges recognised our understanding of the markets we serve, including skills shortages, long-term talent pipelines and the role that mentoring, events and community-building play in supporting the wider industry.

Returning to New York provided a timely reminder of what being a specialist actually requires.

It means having as many meaningful conversations as possible. It means understanding the work your clients deliver, not just the job titles they hire. It means knowing how responsibilities differ between a general contractor, an owner’s representative and a consultancy, and recognising that the same title can mean something very different from one business to another.

When you’re recruiting Estimators, Superintendents, Project Managers or commercial professionals, that context is essential. The closer we are to our clients’ day-to-day reality, the better equipped we are to identify people who can make a lasting impact.

A City That Works Beyond the Office

Central Park remains a permanent feature of every trip, whether that means an early morning jog to shake off the jet lag or a walk after a day of back-to-back meetings.

I previously viewed New York as somewhere to spend two intense years gaining international experience, particularly if you were young, single and ready to throw yourself into the pace of the city. That view now feels outdated.

The parks, neighbourhoods and communities offer a different side of New York from the one seen between Midtown meetings. For professionals considering a move with a partner or family, there is much more to the city than its working culture.

That matters from a recruitment perspective, after all, a successful relocation is not simply about whether somebody can do the job. It also depends on whether they can imagine building a life in the city. The more time I spend there, the easier it becomes to understand why so many people do.

Confidence Is Returning, but Talent Will Shape What Comes Next

My conversations with GC Principals and Owner’s Rep Equity Partners were overwhelmingly positive. Businesses reported a strong year, with healthy order books and secured fee income creating confidence as they look towards next year.

The broader data supports that sense of momentum in parts of the market. Demand for premium office space has risen, major occupiers are making long-term commitments and investors have begun returning to higher-quality New York office assets. However, the construction recovery remains uneven, particularly across non-residential work, meaning businesses still need to be deliberate about where and how they grow.

For firms with secured work, the question is increasingly whether they have the people required to deliver it.

One opportunity I continue to see is the potential value of British-trained Quantity Surveyors within US general contractors.

Main contractors in the UK often operate on tighter margins, placing significant emphasis on cost control, commercial management, procurement and the early identification of risk. A strong QS who has developed in that environment can bring an extremely commercially focused mindset to a US contractor.

Adaptation is still required: contracts, terminology, procurement routes and local market practices differ, and international experience should never be treated as an automatic substitute for local knowledge. But when the right British QS combines that commercial discipline with an understanding of the New York market, the result can be incredibly powerful.

Put simply: if more New York GCs could successfully attract and integrate British-trained QS talent, they could become even more commercially formidable.

Relationships Remain the Constant

After 15 trips, New York continues to surprise me, but the central lesson remains the same: this is a market built on relationships.

Technical understanding gets you into the conversation and consistent delivery earns trust. Staying close to clients and candidates allows you to understand what’s changing before it becomes obvious on paper.

 The market is busy, confidence is growing and businesses are looking ahead with optimism. For Capstone, our role is to remain present: listening carefully, understanding the detail and helping ambitious construction businesses find the people capable of turning strong pipelines into successfully delivered projects.