The national shortage of construction workers means that it will likely take years for many victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma to rebuild.
Homeowners will likely struggle to assess damage, navigate federal assistance and apply for loans. They’ll also have to compete for contractors who have already put prospective clients on waiting lists.
All told, it could take years for some people to rebuild, if they can do it at all. The same could be true of many victims of Hurricane Irma, which caused its own catastrophic damage in Florida, though less than initially feared.
For anyone who needs to repair or rebuild a home or business, the back-to-back hurricanes coincided with a national shortage of carpenters, electricians, drywall installers and other skilled workers. Many construction workers left the industry after the housing bubble burst a decade ago and haven’t returned.
With fewer younger workers entering the business, the average age of some construction trades has reached well into middle age. There were 255,000 unfilled construction sector jobs recorded in June, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
On top of the worker shortage, homeowners will pay elevated prices for materials, which had already been rising this year.
“The labor shortage is going to make this take longer, but more importantly, it’s going to be more expensive than people think because labor rates are going to go up dramatically,” says John Burns, CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a housing industry research firm.
Few construction companies outside Texas and Florida are eager or equipped to travel there to handle rebuilding. Most are already busy on work closer to home.
“Why would I take a chance on going to Florida or the Gulf Coast for temporary work, where I might not be able to find housing, when I can find steady employment here and now?” said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America.
