Among the nonresidential structures Worland helped design was Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda, Md.

A small gain in spending for equipment was more than offset by another decline in spending for nonresidential structures, producing a 1.5 percent rate of decline.

Private construction fell 1.2 percent in April as the building pace dropped two-tenths of 1 percent for residential buildings and 4.8 percent for nonresidential structures.

Modulaire, based in San Francisco, sells, rents and services nonresidential modular structures.

Business investment in equipment and software has continued to expand, but investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector remains depressed.

The Commerce Department's tally of the national output showed the second-quarter surge reflecting gains in all major components except trade and spending on nonresidential structures.

Many of the new projects are reconstructions of older nonresidential structures as housing.

Fixed investment (nonresidential structures, equipment and software, and housing investments) grew at an annual rate of 0.8 percent.

However, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector continues to be depressed.

In many cases, these plots had been occupied by one-story commercial buildings or other nonresidential structures that developers can easily vacate.