The massive influx of projects the construction industry isenjoying these days hit home for me not in New York, where I live,but overseas.

Last summer I visited Lloyd's of London to conduct interviewsand shoot video for our “Inside Lloyd's” project, which provided arare look inside the inner workings of the world's leadingspecialty insurance market. On July 9, 2016, I had the chance togaze upon the city from one of the Lloyd's building's exterior-setglass elevators. One would be hard-pressed to find a morespectacular view of London.

Related: Managing enterprise risk in a growth-orientedconstruction environment

As we climbed and the panoramic view spread out before us, theentire cityscape was dotted with cranes, nearly as far as the eyecould see.

That's when it was hammered home to me that the “constructionboom” I'd heard about was a very real thing indeed.

Too much of a good thing?

Construction is very much on our minds this month, with JoyceAnn Grabel's cover feature delving into the challenges andcontinued opportunity presented by the building boom of the lastseveral years. It's still a very busy time for constructioncompanies, perhaps too much so; for every job they accept, otherprojects have to be taken on by someone else — and that “someoneelse” isn't always the first choice or the best choice. Not everyfirm is a good risk, and their protections have to be underwrittencarefully.

Even the “good” firms have to be watched closely, as they'reunderstandably eager to take on more projects — they have to strikewhile the iron is hot — but even with their best intentions theycan't always meet their commitments when multiple jobs arehappening simultaneously.

Years back, when the Great Recession set in and belts weretightened, many building projects had to be delayed for lack offunding. Some jobs simply ran out of money and had to be put onhold. In the time since, many of the more mature, skilled laborerswho'd worked in construction for decades decided it was time topack it in or take up another line of work. They had mouths tofeed, and waiting around for years for the industry to pick upagain wasn't an option.

Related: A deeper insight into the risks and challengesfacing senior construction executives

Shallow talent pool

Now with the construction industry firing on all cylinders, thatpool of specialized talent has become more shallow. That's goodnews for those workers, as they're in more demand and in some casescan command a bigger fee — but bad news for the business at largebecause there isn't enough of that talent to go around. Goodworkers are badly needed for a variety of projects.

In addition to mounting losses on the Commercial Auto side,bodily injury claims are the biggest loss category in construction.On many job sites, you have two types of workers at risk: new oneswho in some cases don't yet know all the ways to become injured andlearn the hard way, and older ones who aren't as nimble or strongas they used to be and end up hurt on the job.

I'll be attending IRMI's annual Construction Risk Conference,set for Nov. 5-8 in Indianapolis at the J.W. Marriott, a terrificevent with educational sessions and panels featuring some of thetop minds in this field. One of the featured speakers is one of myfavorite insurance executives, XL Catlin CEO Mike McGavick, astraight shooter who I always enjoy the chance to speak with. Hewill host a talk titled “Insurance Innovation: No Longer the RoadLess Traveled,” on Monday, Nov. 6 at 8:45 a.m. Another friend ofNU, Tim East, director of risk management for The Walt Disney Co.,will speak on Wednesday the 8th at 12:50 p.m. about “Aligning Ownerand Contractor Interests.”

Beginning Nov. 3 on PropertyCasualty360.com, we're going to behosting a weeklong content hub devoted exclusively toconstruction-related content, featuring contributed insight fromindustry experts at Aon, Willis, Burns & Wilcox, PhiladelphiaInsurance Companies, Chubb, Starr Companies, Lockton, XL Catlin,USI and many others. This special hub will run in concert with theIRMI conference, and PC360 staffers will be on hand bringing younews from the show as well. If construction-related content is ofinterest to you, you won't want to miss a minute of it.

Related: Construction conversation: IRMI's BillMcIntyre