Is Construction Essential?
First thing’s first - during this pandemic, we have been so thankful for those who continue to work for our health and safety. We have several clients working on the front lines in health care right now. Please know you have our utmost respect and appreciation for spending more time saving lives than sharing it with your families. We sincerely thank you and applaud your endurance and selflessness.
Like every small business in the country right now, we are learning to navigate this unprecedented climate. From client virtual meetings, remote employee support, cash flow analysis and marketing strategies, to final project delivery and system implementations that rely primarily on technology. Meanwhile, we are served by our own “essential partners;” financial partners who have assisted navigating the uncertain path of the small business, our associates that continue to print and deliver drawings, and those that ensure mail that is critical to our business is delivered.
Under our Stay-In-Place order, we have come to understand the new classification of what designates services as “essential.” Although every job is essential to those that do it (and not a statement of value), we find ourselves asking… is construction really essential? In certain cases, our answer is a resounding YES, such as:
Our residential clients, whose homes had been partially demolished in February and left open to the elements; we are grateful that construction was allowed to continue. These clients have loans to repay and have often leveraged the equity in those homes and/or utilized long term investments to improve their quality of life. For them, construction is essential.
Our commercial clients, who have invested their life savings to open new salons and café businesses prior to our now-uncertain economy; we are thankful that their dreams can still become a reality. With leases signed and payments pending, construction is essential.
For our families and friends that were victims of natural disasters, such as tornadoes that tore through the southern states last week; reconstruction is critical. With hurricane season fast approaching, not to mention summer wildfires, the potential for damage is high; for all those recovering and rebuilding, construction is absolutely essential.
Our allies, like Second Chances’ PATH* project and Shopwork’s Elisabetta** project, which work to produce housing opportunities for the less fortunate; construction is imperative. For I-Kota and Denver Housing Authority***, who continue to work on the Gateway project that will provide affordable options to fill a huge community need; without a doubt, construction is essential.
But what about the second homes, fix-and-flips, new ADUs, and developer new-builds? What about infrastructure projects and the airport? It’s hard to say. It’s all connected.
Denver’s population has increased by more than 200,000 people since 2015. This has led to a housing shortage and a construction boom. It has also led to much higher construction costs due to labor and material supply demands. Zaga has been fortunate to be a small part of transforming the city’s landscape during this exponential market expansion for the past 6 years. Typically, when interest rates are low, property equity is high, and after the winter season (being cooped up indoors), we see a jump in requests from more families with the desire (and means) to do some remodeling and/or expanding. Consumer confidence has been high, and our clients have been anxious to see their dreams come to life. Until now.
With a potential recession looming in our future and unemployment rising since the lock-down, is now still a good time to build? Ironically, we have advised many clients to wait and see. As a design professional, our job is to help our clients not only see the physical transformation, but be equipped with information needed to make wise decisions. The process of construction is stressful enough under normal circumstances (see Anna’s blog! - https://annajillson.wordpress.com ). In uncertain times, it is increasingly difficult to determine the best course of action, so having a true liaison in your corner is essential.
We are making progress in flattening the curve and will eventually be on the other side of this pandemic. When that day comes, we will all be ready to live - even in a recession. Denver has a unique history of boosting the local economy through its public works projects, like the airport and the convention center. Those projects are ramping up again, so hopefully our economy will continue to thrive. Denver is still projected to see a 1.3% increase in population in 2020; that’s 37,000 more people looking for homes and jobs, and investing in our economy. Though the stock market has been challenged and there is much debate over re-entry, we still have a low inventory of homes for sale. We will always need to accommodate our changing lifestyles in the homes we are fortunate enough to own. We will need to keep building places in which to work, live and flourish. Buildings should be a vessel to enhance our lives and foster connection with one another. Excellent, well-informed and cost-effective design is always vital. Our Zaga team will be here when the time is right.
***https://www.linkedin.com/posts/i-kota_ikotaconstruction-activity-6654027726774685696-Kkzl