Until its recent end, the Spanish construction industry enjoyed a decade of unprecedented growth, absorbing labour and capital from other sectors of the economy in huge amounts. Using the input—output methodology, we compare the picture for different countries in order to seek patterns and identify possible distortions associated with the extraordinary growth of the construction sector in Spain. We find that the sector is plainly oversized in Spain in comparison to its closest benchmarks, namely a group of OECD advanced economies. The available input—output data for Spain, covering several years, also provide evidence of a process of 'deformation' of the economy. On this basis, we provide an initial estimate of the impact a hypothetical adjustment in the industry would have on total income and employment in the economy.