Truemors
In Seattle this week, downtimes in the construction industry keep hitting harder, spanking the industry again and again. Two companies just pulled their pants down and showed just how purple their cheeks are getting.
Jorve Roofing is a company that has been in business for over 20 years. Their workforce had grown to about 150 people in the field. They do a lot of deck repairs as well as roofing both residential and commercial. In Seattle, wooden deck have serious problems with rotting due to the relentless percipitation.
Just last week Jorve had to make the hard decision. They let 50 heads roll from their field operatives. Is there a better indication of the times we are facing in the industry?
D.R. Horton is an American homebuilder. Here in the greater Seattle area, in building a high end community in the posh eastern Seattle bedroom community of Issaquah, the government required that they make some accomodations for low income dwelling. In response, they put up a moderate number of one and two bedroom, scaled down condominium units.
Only a few months ago, these units were being touted as a good deal at $215,000.00 and up. They were offered at auction the other day starting at $98,000.00. That's less than half! What does this portend? Builders and home improvement professionals are shaking their heads around here.
Some people who are insulated from the fallout have been saying that media hype is keeping people from buying and that the crisis is not really as deep as it seems. If that's the case, then these companies are stupid and should just hold on until the spell is broken. I don't think they're stupid at all. The situation is real and it's painful. It's all around us and its getting worse.
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