Nicholas L. Shires, CPA, Dannible & McKee, LLP
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduces sweeping changes with significant implications for construction business owners and their leadership teams. As companies evaluate the legislation, it’s important to focus on the provisions most relevant to day-to-day operations. Here are six key areas to study.
- Accounting Exemption
For tax years beginning on or after July 4, 2025, contracts entered into for residential construction projects, per the amended definition under the OBBBA, generally qualify for an exception to the percentage-of-completion method of accounting.
That means, if eligible, you can use the completed-contract method (CCM) or other permissible methods. Under the CCM, for example, you can defer income until a project is substantially completed, which generally improves cash flow.
- Accelerated Depreciation
The OBBBA includes multiple provisions that will allow you to accelerate depreciation on eligible capital expenditures. These breaks can also improve cash flow, as well as make new investments in equipment and machinery more viable.
The law makes permanent 100% first-year bonus depreciation for qualified new and used assets acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025. It also increases the Section 179 expense deduction limit to $2.5 million, with the phaseout threshold raised to $4 million. Those figures are effective for 2025, with annual inflation adjustments going forward.
In addition, the OBBBA creates a temporary 100% deduction for the cost of building “qualified production property” — for instance, facilities used to fabricate materials. This could boost demand for projects related to manufacturing. Construction must have begun after January 19, 2025, and before January 1, 2029, and the property must be placed in service before 2031.
- Bigger Business Interest Deductions
If you finance capital purchases, you may be able to deduct more of the interest under the OBBBA. The business interest deduction is generally limited to 30% of your adjusted tax income (ATI). Since 2022, though, deductions for depreciation, amortization or depletion were not added back to taxable income when calculating ATI. So, ATI was effectively measured based on earnings before interest and taxes, not earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Beginning with the 2025 tax year, the OBBBA provides that ATI will again include depreciation, amortization and depletion in the calculation. In other words, ATI will revert to being calculated based on EBITDA. This will effectively increase the ATI base, generally raising the allowable business interest deduction.
- Distressed Community Construction Incentives
The quality opportunity zone (QOZ) program generally allows taxpayers to defer, reduce or exclude unrealized capital gains reinvested in qualified opportunity funds (QOFs). These funds invest in designated distressed communities across the country.
The OBBBA establishes a permanent QOZ policy that enhances the original program, which had been slated to sunset after 2026. The law also creates a new type of QOF for rural areas. Plus, the OBBBA permanently enhances the low-income housing tax credit. In sum, these programs could drive higher construction activity — including affordable housing and commercial development.
- Reduced Taxation of Overtime
For tax years 2025 through 2028, the OBBBA allows employees to deduct up to $12,500 ($25,000 for joint filers) of qualified overtime pay. This tax break is available regardless of whether a taxpayer itemizes. However, it begins to phase out when an individual’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000 (or $300,000 for joint filers).
The boost to take-home pay may make overtime more enticing to existing construction workers and job seekers considering the industry. But it also requires employers to track and report the amount of qualified overtime pay. What’s more, overtime pay will remain subject to payroll taxes and state income taxes.
- Elimination of Clean Energy Incentives
The OBBBA targets many of the clean energy incentives created or enhanced by the Inflation Reduction Act — including some that have spurred construction plans and projects. For instance, it eliminates the Sec. 179D energy-efficient commercial building deduction for buildings or systems on which construction begins after June 30, 2026.
The new law also eliminates the Sec. 45L new energy-efficient home credit for eligible contractors. The credit was due to expire in 2033, but it’s now available only for homes acquired on or before June 30, 2026.
And That’s Not All
The provisions highlighted here are only a portion of the changes in the OBBBA that could impact your construction business. Acting now is critical to identify the most relevant tax-law changes and take full advantage of the tax breaks available before opportunities are missed.
Nicholas L. Shires, CPA, is the partner-in-charge of tax services at Dannible & McKee, LLP, a certified public accounting firm with offices in Syracuse, Auburn, Binghamton and Schenectady, NY, as well as Tampa, FL. With over 20 years of experience, Nick provides tax and consulting services to a wide range of clients, with a focus on the construction industry. For questions regarding the tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), contact Nick at nshires@dmcpas.com or (315) 472-9127. Learn more @ DMCPAS.com.
As the fourth quarter of the year begins, we at the Syracuse Builders Exchange (SBE) reflect on the success of the past 12 months, as we begin to focus on 2026 with optimism and excitement.
“Those are the two main things we look at when we consider strategically where we’re going to grow,” he said. 
To provide local care for the anticipated new arrivals near the Micron site in the North and needs in the West, additional expansions have been planned or were already completed at the Liverpool/ Clay Carling Road location, including pediatric care this year, and Upstate’s eighth location for physical medicine and rehabilitation that was finalized last year. Upstate also provides more than a dozen services in the Camillus area to help meet patient needs.
I will not debate the politics behind the recent health care cuts, but I will share my concerns about their impacts.
A native of Rhode Island, Steven Hanks, MD, has a substantial family lineage of first responders – both his father and grandfather were firefighters. Dr. Hanks developed a different yet related passion, however, and when he decided to follow that passion to study medicine, he took the tradition of his family line in a new direction.
In his role, Dr. Hanks is responsible for over 20 different organizations within Trinity Health, including hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, large physician practices, urgent care centers and more. He shared that one of the reasons he’s an effective leader is because he is often present at many different locations within the healthcare network, and he values open communication from all of his colleagues.
Exciting innovations and new accreditations at both SPHP and St. Joseph’s Health have been a focus of Dr. Hanks’ efforts as President and CEO, and they are further evidence of his effective manner of leadership. Specifically at St. Joseph’s Health, which has long been at the forefront of robotic surgery, the recent acquisition of the DV5, a next-generation, multiport surgical robot, has brought even more advancements to the technologies the hospital offers to its patients. The first healthcare system in the Syracuse area to fully embrace robotics, as Dr. Hanks explained, St. Joseph’s offers a full array of robotic approaches, including all generations of the Da Vinci robot, the Xi, and now the DV5.
“One of the things I’ve always insisted on is if we’re going to offer a service, like hernia surgery, I want to provide it at the highest possible level. And so, for areas where there are existing accreditations available, I like to push our organization to seek those accreditations, and that’s exactly what happened with our Center of Excellence for hernia surgery at St. Joseph’s. We’ve met rigorous standards for outcomes, safety, patient satisfaction, and continuous improvement of our quality. For patients, this means they can be confident in the care they’re receiving when they seek hernia care at St. Joseph’s Health. Hernias can be very complex and difficult to care for. We have a variety of approaches that we’ve brought together under the Center of Excellence that allow us to offer many options for patients with the best outcomes in the safest delivery of care possible.”
speaking with a patient, and it creates a note. Now, the doctor or PA no longer needs to either dictate or type the note. This process decreases the amount of time the provider spends on documentation, so they can see more patients and spend more time face-to-face with patients. These are exciting things that are happening, which directly help us improve the experience of and care for our patients.”
“At Trinity, we’re already investing in these trends,” he stated. “We’ve deployed virtual nursing, and we’re leveraging telehealth for virtual visits with our physicians, including our specialists. We’re growing our home-based services, our value-based care models, and our population health models. We’re reimagining how we support the workforce of the future.
Along with such changes, there will certainly be many challenges, as Dr. Hanks pointed out. These challenges include cuts to government funding, increasing government payer and decreasing private payer models, an aging population with higher healthcare needs, and more centralization of super subspecialities leading to a need for patients to travel longer distances for highly specialized care. To confront these challenges head-on, Dr. Hanks emphasized the need for transparent communication and collaboration across the entire healthcare system and beyond.
With Dr. Hanks at the helm, the providers, staff, and patients at St. Joseph’s Health and SPHP can rest assured the organization will tackle the coming changes and challenges by staying true to its foundational mission.
When Micron Technology announced its historic plan to invest up to $100 billion in a semiconductor megafab in Clay, New York, it made national headlines. But for manufacturers across Central New York, this announcement isn’t just exciting, it’s transformative. Micron’s presence is expected to bring thousands of high-tech jobs, create a robust innovative ecosystem, and fundamentally change the regional economy. For small to midsized manufacturers, the opportunity is clear: Micron’s arrival will open the doors to new markets, new partnerships, and long-term, sustainable growth.
We are witnessing what some are calling “generational change” in our region. Like most leaders, I view change as both inevitable and largely positive. But while change brings new opportunities, we also understand that it brings new challenges and risks. As leaders, we are compelled to consider how change will impact our communities and our companies. One way to manage through change is by playing out scenarios. Scenario planning enables you to prepare for multiple plausible futures by identifying key uncertainties, mapping out strategic responses, and monitoring leading indicators. Bringing together teams to play out scenarios allows for more creative thinking and development of solutions that anticipate challenges and smooth out volatility and risk.