COVID is changing home improvement
Home improvement, as part of the “essential” construction industry, has been pretty much exempt from Covid-related shutdowns and business restrictions. Spending many more hours at home has given home owners the opportunity to plan and execute home improvement projects of all sizes. (More about how the pandemic is changing home design is coming in a future blog post.) This is not say that the Pandemic hasn’t drastically changed the way that we work with our clients.
Like all businesses we designers have had to adapt to mask and social distancing requirements, and we enforced those requirements on our job sites and our studios and showrooms. At Casa Verde we now do many more “house calls” and have severely limited any sort of “walk-in” business. Right now we only meet clients and potential clients in the studio on an appointment basis, and often bring material samples and drawings to our clients’ homes for review (again with social distancing in place). We use Zoom for meetings that don’t have to be in person. But changes to how our business and government partners are operating have had an even greater impact.
The vast majority of home improvement projects will require permits from your local jurisdiction. Because all but the most essential government buildings have been closed and operations moved on-line, it can now take weeks longer to for a permit to be issued than it did pre-Covid. On-site building inspections as part of the process have been limited and require safety protocols. Many inspections are now made using photographic evidence submitted by text or email to the inspectors. In short, the process of permitting and inspecting construction sites, even for relatively simple home improvement projects, is now much longer than it was pre-Covid.
Supply chains for everything from tile and flooring to dishwashers and refrigerators have been dramatically disrupted. It is not unusual to find a product back-ordered for weeks and even months. As a result, homeowners have either had to go with a “second choice” or put a pause on the project altogether. Right now we are not in a position to safely promise that a certain product will be available at a specific time. We are all practicing patience every day and trying to manage our client’s expectations.
The labor shortage is also at critical point. Most contractors are booking projects many months from now, and juggling the schedules of subcontractors can be frustrating. We are not looking at a situation like the 2008 recession where contractors were desperately seeking work, and homeowners would seek negotiate with several contractors to get the lowest possible price. Rarely will a contractor reserve time for a future project without a signed contract and significant deposit. The cost of both labor and materials may make a current project more costly than it might have been a few years ago – not to mention more difficult to get started. Be prepared for delays and cost increases and you won’t be disappointed.