Construction spending in September posted a better-than-expected performance, powered by the largest jump in housing construction in more than six years.

Adding to evidence that the recession has ended, housing construction rose in August and fewer laid-off workers sought jobless aid last week. Still, the reports suggest a slow and fragile economic recovery. The rise in housing starts was solely because of a jump in the volatile apartment-building category, and unemployment claims remain far above levels associated with a healthy economy.

Bob Williams had a time-sensitive construction project that needed to be built at a South Carolina shopping center 10 years ago. Williams hired EDC, the Chesterfield County-based general contracting and development management firm that specializes in retail and office construction, to handle the job. “They knocked that job off so fast. It was amazing,“ said Williams, the Southeast senior construction manager at Edens & Avant, the Columbia, S.C.-based owner and operator of shopping centers in 14 states, including Virginia.

LAMBSBURG Don Garren likes a challenge. He likes to tinker with old phonographs and make jewelry in his big workshop. He built that workshop. He also built the rest of the 7,750-square-foot house that he shares with his wife, Nancy. He planed the hemlock boards that cover the outside and attached each of them with 16 stainless-steel screws.

At least the market for new homes isn’t getting worse anymore, and that’s the first step to getting better. The overall economy is actually getting a small boost as more buyers walk into model houses ready to sign contracts and builders hire workers to pour foundations and pave roads. Construction of single-family homes rose in July for the fifth straight month, edging up almost 2 percent to the highest level since October, the government said yesterday. Building permits climbed nearly 6 percent.

Office: CarMax headquarters in Goochland County; Luck Stone headquarters addition and renovations in Goochland; and United Network for Organ Sharing headquarters in Richmond
  Retail: The Shops at White Oak Village in Henrico County; Wal-Mart stores (five in central Virginia); Lowe’s home-improvement stores (24 locations throughout Virginia and Maryland); and Ukrop’s stores (more than 10 locations)

Virginia Commonwealth University will seek state approval to build a $44 million, 102,000-square-foot classroom building on Floyd Avenue across from the Student Commons. The board of visitors approved the project yesterday as part of its six-year capital plan, moving ahead with funding requests even as it awaits word on how hard the state will cut the university’s budget this year.

About $135 billion in federal economic-stimulus money is being pumped directly into construction projects. That will do some good for the hard-hit construction industry, but it will take time, an economist for a national construction trade group said in Richmond yesterday. “It is the largest-ever piece of legislation for construction,“ said Kenneth Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America. But even the so-called “shovel-ready” projects targeted by the stimulus take time to get going, Simonson said at a Richmond Association for Business Economics meeting.

Driving on Parham Road in Henrico County can be tedious in the best of times. Between Quioccasin Road and Interstate 64, about 30,800 vehicles travel the four-lane road daily. Now, in addition to regular traffic backups, the county is working on a curb and gutter replacement project intermittently along a 10-mile stretch of Parham Road.

Single-family home construction posted a modest rebound in April, raising hopes that the three-year slide in housing is leveling off. But a bulging supply of unsold homes, record levels of foreclosures and still-falling home prices suggest that a sustained recovery isn’t likely until next spring at the earliest.

A fraudulent home-repair operator will spend nearly five years behind bars for bilking five of his customers of almost $15,000. Albert Gilyard, 56, of the 8200 block of St. Charles Road in Henrico County was sentenced in Henrico Circuit Court yesterday to 10 years in prison with seven years suspended for two felony counts of construction fraud.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded seven highway contracts, worth about $5.5 million, for construction and maintenance projects in central and Southside Virginia.

• Lee Hy Paving Corp. of Glen Allen received two contracts totaling about $2 million for paving work in Charles City, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico and New Kent counties.

CHARLOTTESVILLE—The University of Virginia is poised to take on an estimated $250 million in debt to finance a long list of construction projects. The finance committee of the university’s board of visitors voted unanimously Thursday to issue up to $300 million worth of bonds in April to help pay for the projects. Final approval of the measure is expected today.

Even with February’s rare burst of activity, housing construction is down a whopping 47.3 percent from a year ago.

The Virginia Army National Guard will break ground tomorrow for a what could eventually be a $55 million training-center complex here. The project’s $25 million first phase includes construction of headquarters and education buildings for the 183rd Regional Training Institute, the state Guard’s primary training unit, at the post near Blackstone, the Guard said.