It wouldn’t be an understatement to suggest that every single industry and sector on the planet has changed or been forced to change based on the pandemic and the subsequent fallout from it. A buddy of mine works in Canbec Construction and we were discussing recently just how much the world of property construction is going to change. This industry has of course been hit hard, and these are just some of the changes which we can expect to see in this sector once everything gets back to normal.
Industry Trends
Within the properties themselves we are going to see a big difference with regards to what people are looking for. Given that so many of us have been stuck at home for such a long time it stands to reason that we’ll have been looking in more detail at our properties and seeking to make changes. For example we will see more people looking for outdoor spaces in the home, more hygienic materials used and much more emphasis on energy efficiency in the home.
Struggle
There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that this is going to be a situation which will be a big struggle to recover from. Those construction companies who had just began a project and bought up materials without yet receiving money, they will struggle once the projects are cancelled due to lack of funding. This is going to take hard work and patience but those construction companies will be back, stronger than ever.
Brown Field Work
We have already seen a great amount of evidence that big commercial construction projects are going to be cancelled in favor of the upgrading of brownfield sites. This is exactly what will continue because of the fact that so many business have ad to leave their premises. This presents a greta opportunity for low cost construction on sites which already have buildings on them. For the construction workers they will be very much looking at upgrading rather than building from scratch.
Regulations on Site
It is not just the work that these companies will be doing which will change but also the way in which it is carried out. Even assuming that the vaccine is ubiquitous, we can pretty much expect building sites, which use people from many different companies, to have tight regulations. This will involve testing for the virus and making sure that measures are taken to minimize the potential spread of the virus.
And finally, and sadly, we anticipate that construction companies will have far more sub-contractors than ever before. Those who did hire full time staff have been very much stung by that decision this year, because of course once the money dried up they were no longer able to pay them. This results in the constriction companies looking to switch to more of a pay-as-you-go style of employment, which of course will bring about some level of uncertainty.
