The sound of hammers and saws piercing the daytime hours is the making of something positive in the air. Builders and contractors have been idle or cut back drastically the past many years as the “great recession” rolled across the United States. “There were a substantial number of projects deferred in 2008 and 2009 but those cases are much less so today, looking at 2010, 2011 and now in 2012,” states Robert Murray, vice president of economic affairs at McGraw Hill Construction, a construction data firm. The peak of new construction in the U.S. was 2006, with a total of $689.3 billion. In 2011, new construction totaled $421.4 billion.  Forbes.com took the McGraw Hill data and dug deeper: which areas spent the most money on new construction in 2011, inclusive of homes, condominiums, apartment buildings, office, retail, warehouses, health care buildings, educational buildings, manufacturing plants and research facilities. Listed below are the top 6 metro areas. Surely this activity provides hope that the upswing is underway, and the recession that took so many victims is behind us.

1) NYC  $17.2 billion

2) Dallas  $9.5 billion

3) Houston  $8.8 billion

4) Washington, D.C.  $8.1 billion

5) Chicago  $6 billion

6) Boston  $5.9 billion