On February 4, 2022, President Biden signed an executive order regarding the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). What are PLAs? What are the parameters of the executive order? How might the executive order affect the housing market? Let’s take a deep dive into PLAs and answer these questions. What Read more…
Extreme weather has become more common in the United States. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports that the annual average of weather/climate disaster events was 7.7 from 1980-2011 and 17.8 between 2017-2021. Meanwhile, AP reports that the annual number of power outages due to severe weather has more than doubled. They went Read more…
It seems as if every trip to the store, online shopping spree, or visit to a news site provides a reminder of supply chain issues. Expect a simple purchasing process – items in stock and arriving in the same amount of time as they have in the past – at Read more…
Women have become more prevalent in the construction world, yet they remain a clear minority. Many organizations aim to support women in the construction world, including NAHB Professional Women in Building. The organization is geared towards women in the home building industry. Background/History of PWB Originally chartered in 1955 Read more…
American businesses are under pressure on multiple fronts, including labor. Since March of 2018, there have been more job openings in the United States than job seekers. That scenario has continued since (except for a brief period when the pandemic induced shutdowns occurred) and has gotten worse, with the gap Read more…
Selling a house? Good for you. It’s a seller’s market. You will probably sell your home quickly and get your asking price or even more. But will the seller’s market last? If so, for how long? Background “Since the industry [residential real estate] reopened in mid-2020, it has morphed Read more…
Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates for the first time since 2018. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has stated that aggressive rate hikes are coming soon, and multiple price hikes will occur in 2022 and 2023. At the beginning of 2022, the rate was Read more…
The death of construction workers has been well documented. Some put the shortage at over 600,000 workers for 2022 alone. The likelihood that the entire labor needs will be met is next to zero. After all, the industry currently has approximately 7.6 million employees, so to reach the projected number needed would mean the Read more…
Oh, building permit, building permit, wherefore art thou building permit? Not even William Shakespeare could make poetry from the building permit challenges in Dallas. Let’s step back a moment to understand a building permit and its role in the construction process. What is a building permit? A building permit, which Read more…
What goes up, must come down is the law of gravity and a quotation attributed to Sir Isaac Newton. The law seems to be irrelevant when it comes to the price of building materials, however. Those waiting/hoping/expecting the costs of building materials to come down from their meteoric rise may Read more…