The value of February nonresidential construction starts inched down 1.7% to $26.2 billion from an upwardly revised January total of $26.7 billion, which was less than the typical seasonal 2.5% decline in February, according to ConstructConnect.

A 33.2% plunge in the institutional category drove the February dip, while gains in commercial (+18.7%), heavy engineering (+4.5%), and the smaller, volatile institutional category (+65.3%) weren't enough to put total starts in the positive.

Year over year, total starts for February 2017 were down 9.2%, with a 26.2% increase in the engineering category recording the only gain. Year-to-date starts were down 7.5% when compared to the January-February 2016 period, with industrial (-39.4%), institutional (-11.7%)and commercial (-7.0%) all in the negative and engineering up a negligible 2.9%.