2 - committed past the point of no return, I found that the subject assigned to me was entitled, and I quote "Handling the Financing of the Pretty Good Company". The conflict between the title used to entice you here to listen and that used to entice me here to speak lies in the fact that I do not think that you can approach an investment in the construction industry from an industry standpoint. I recognise that the approach ordinarily used with success by investment analysts is to appraise the outlook for "the industry and proceed from there to select those companies in the industry that appear to be the most promising vehicles for investment. To approach an investment in the construction industry in this manner is putting the cart before the horse." The concept of construction as an industry is a convenient device for the economist and the statistician in attempting to measure or forecast trends in the economy. In this category he can lump together such widely assorted items as home building, dam building, highways, schools, pipe lines, missile launching facilities, office buildings, industrial plants, - - everything that is built no matter by whom. When his task is done, he can run up the total and reach the conclusion, to which I subscribe, that the outlook for domestic construction in the next decade is very promising indeed and will continue to be bright so long as we have an expanding economy, a changing technology, a growing population that wants to live in its own home, educate its children, travel through space with increasing comfort and speed while sitting down, and enjoy an ever increasing standard of living. If he looks beyond our borders, the economist will also conclude that the outlook for construction abroad, particularly in the undeveloped countries, is limited