Two long-standing clients tell a principal they are delaying projects. At the same time, new inquiries continue to arrive. Is demand holding up, or is the firm watching interest that may never turn into signed work? A dashboard can show both signals. Leaders still have to decide what to do with them.
Market intelligence connects market conditions to what a firm is hearing from clients and seeing in its own pipeline. One useful way to work through conflicting signals is to write down the evidence, the explanation it might support, and the decision that depends on it.
The Signal
In July 2026, the AIA and Deltek Architecture Billings Index registered 46.6. Readings below 50 indicate that more firms on the survey panel reported declining billings than rising billings. AIA also reported that inquiries for new projects rose while the value of newly signed design contracts declined. Those measures describe different stages of potential work; the 46.6 reading is not a 3.4% revenue decline.
The Test
The national survey cannot tell this particular firm why its clients are pausing. The team could compare its own inquiries with signed contracts by sector and client, then call a few owners to ask what is delaying authorization. A public budget, a project schedule, and an owner’s account of the obstacle may point in different directions. That disagreement is worth investigating before changing the growth plan.
A practical intelligence review includes the date and source of each signal, the firm’s own pursuit and contract data, and the questions still open. It also records confidence: an approved capital budget carries different weight from an informal inquiry. The person responsible for a decision should know which assumption to revisit and when.
The Decision
Suppose the delayed clients still have funded projects but need time to resolve internal approvals. The firm might stay close to those relationships and adjust its near-term workload assumptions. If conversations instead reveal a lasting shift in priorities, it may redirect business development effort. Neither choice follows automatically from a national index.
CMG conducts market intelligence and confidential client research to help firms test these explanations before investing in a market or changing strategy. The most useful output is a decision someone can act on: whom to call, which opportunity to pursue, or which assumption to stop treating as fact.
If conflicting market signals are affecting your firm’s plans, reach out to Larisa to discuss the questions that would clarify your next decision.
Source: AIA, Architecture Billings Index, July 2026, published August 19, 2026
Larisa Forester Gilday, CPSM, Assoc. AIA, is a principal consultant with Cameron MacAllister Group. With a background in architecture and an MS in Marketing, she advises AEC firms on market intelligence, marketing and business development, and strategic growth. Her perspective draws on dozens of market studies and hundreds of interviews with owners and industry professionals.