The outbreak of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 had a significant impact on China’s economy, society, and citizens; it also had a negative impact on the development of the construction industry. In particular, small and medium-sized construction enterprises with low ability to withstand risk have been strongly impacted, aggravating a crisis of survival among these firms. The focus of this study is to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the growth of small and medium-sized construction companies. Based on the characteristics of small and medium-sized construction enterprises, this paper establishes a growth evaluation index and builds a growth evaluation model based on factor analysis. Twenty-three construction enterprises listed on small and medium-sized enterprises board are selected as samples, and the quarterly data of 2019 and 2020 are used for empirical analysis. The results show that the epidemic has had a high short-term impact on construction enterprises, and the total output value of the construction industry in the first quarter of 2020 was 16% lower than that in the same period of last year. In the long run, the impact of the epidemic on the growth of small and medium-sized construction enterprises has been limited. In the first quarter of 2020, the growth score of enterprises decreased by only 1.95% year-over-year, and it was essentially flat in the second and third quarters. The epidemic has had little influence on solvency, tangible resources or intangible resources but a high short term influence on profitability, capital expansion and market expectations. The long-term impact is small; It is conducive to the improvement of enterprise operation ability. Finally, to both address the influence of the COVID-19 on small and medium-sized construction enterprises and to realize their transformation and upgrading, targeted suggestions are offered at the policy and enterprise levels. The results will help to understand the impact of the epidemic on the growth of construction enterprises, and provide decision support for the healthy and orderly development of the follow-up construction industry.

Sustainable growth plays an important role in the development of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises and has increasingly become a hot topic in the political and academic arenas. Growth is an important indicator for measuring the operational status and development potential of listed enterprises and is of great significance for studying sustainable growth. Considering the development of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises, a growth evaluation index system that includes growth resources, growth ability, and growth innovation was established, and a growth evaluation model was constructed using the improved entropy-VIKOR algorithm. Evaluation and analysis of the sustainable growth of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises listed before the end of 2012 were conducted. The parameter sensitivity, weight sensitivity, and effectiveness of the evaluation model were analysed. The empirical results showed that compared with the TOPSIS method and the traditional VIKOR method, the multicriteria evaluation model for the sustainable growth of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises proposed in this paper had better stability and effectiveness. Finally, the key influencing factors, growth ranking, and dynamic growth types of small- and medium-sized construction enterprises were analysed, and targeted suggestions were proposed. The research results can provide a reference for managers, investors, and regulators.