Revenue rose at 57 percent of Hawai'i construction companies last year, and the overall outlook for such businesses in Hawai'i appears optimistic, according to a survey of Island companies conducted for the Business Banking Council.

The survey shows that Hawai'i's red-hot construction industry has overcome last year's 58-day concrete strike, which shut down projects across the Islands. Construction companies are performing better than other businesses, 48 percent of whom reported a rise in revenue.

"We are way, way ahead of last year," said Ryan Wada, president of Quality General Inc., a general contractor with 85 employees. Wada expects revenue to be up 12 percent to 15 percent this year, making it his best year ever. And he sees no letting up.

"You have your military privatization (housing) jobs all starting up," he said. "There's just a whole rash of more private, commercial jobs starting up also."

When the Business Banking Council last surveyed the construction industry two years ago, only 50 percent reported growth over the previous year.

The survey was conducted by QMark Research & Polling from June 21 to July 8 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent. It involved 412 interviews across a wide spectrum of companies, including 102 construction-related businesses.

According to the results, 41 percent of all businesses are optimistic that Hawai'i's economic future will improve in the coming year. But the percentage of businesses who feel the economy will get better has fallen 13 percentage points from the beginning of the year.

"I wish I could put my finger on what's causing that," said Jean Santos, vice president of Business Consulting Resources, the management consulting firm that coordinates projects and activities of the Business Banking Council, which is sponsored by American Savings Bank.

Since the survey did not pinpoint the cause of the decline in business optimism, "We've been speculating that possibly there's a sense that things are going well but let's not get overly confident," Santos said. "Business trends tend to be cyclical and while we are in an extremely good pattern now, maybe businesses are thinking, 'Let's be prepared for a time ... when things are not as excellent as they are now.' "

The survey includes a performance factor index that measures changes in employment, gross revenues and profit before taxes; and an optimism factor index that reveals a business' general outlook for Hawai'i's economic future.

By comparing the indexes of construction-related companies to the other businesses, construction companies ranked higher in both performance and optimism.

The survey found that 55 percent of Hawai'i construction companies believed their average profits per project will increase this year. In 2003, only 42 percent expected their average profits per project to rise.

Half of the construction companies also expect to see an increase in pre-tax profits — up from 41 percent in 2003.

Sixteen percent expect to see a decrease this year compared with 30 percent who expected decreases in 2003.