Looking to renovate this year? You’re not alone. It should come as no surprise that we, along with everyone else, experienced quite the rollercoaster in 2020… from a complete halt in jobs in March to 2 times more jobs than we could handle in the fall. Despite these ups and downs, we were able to quickly adapt to the world around us in order to safely continue doing what we love- creating beautiful homes. With social distancing throughout the past year, many people began to spend more time at home than ever before. Lucky for us, because the more time people spend at home, the more they dream about potential improvements around their homes. Projects such as renovating kitchens, refinishing basements, and adding decks are just a few of the projects we have helped our clients with this past year. Overall, it is still a great time to renovate considering that cash is cheap to borrow. Just make sure to pick a licensed and insured general contractor that you can trust.
While we are able to continue working with our wonderful clients, there are some supply and demand points worth mentioning in regards to your 2021 projects. Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on manufacturing, there is often less material available than usual. A smaller than usual supply paired with increased demand has resulted in longer wait times when ordering certain materials. For example, our ability to obtain certain windows may be 10-12 weeks out, so project timelines could be shifting more than usual in the coming months. To mitigate this issue, we are doing our very best to coordinate with our clients and suppliers to obtain all the materials needed for renovation projects in a staging area to keep to schedule as best as we possibly can. Having this staging area in an area like the client’s garage helps us stay on schedule and prevents unfortunate circumstances such as a fully renovated kitchen minus one backordered faucet.
Another supply and demand problem worth mentioning is the strain on the labor available for construction work. A GC is only as good as their sub-contractors. We pay close attention to our subcontractors to ensure they align with the quality of work Spindle & Oak promises to deliver. With the increase in projects, more quality subs are being grabbed up by new home builders and are juggling even more jobs than usual. While we have a network of reliable and thoroughly vetted subs, the increased demand can occasionally shift our timelines. However, with the amount of inexperienced labor entering the construction industry, we prefer the occasional timeline shift over using a sub we haven’t yet grown to trust.
Our clients are the heart of Spindle & Oak. As such, we wanted to share some information on safety where COVID is concerned. In addition to standard safety protocols such as social distancing, face masks, and sanitization measures, we have some even more reassuring information to share concerning our crews and the construction industry as a whole. Unlike many other service industries, the homebuilding industry has not experienced widespread outbreaks of COVID. Since construction is already a highly regulated industry, it is pretty simple to add any new safety measures to the laundry list of existing safety protocols we already follow. Our crews wear masks and are always following CDC guidelines, which means we are able to safely continue building our client’s dream spaces.
We are excited for another year helping our clients achieve their dream homes. We are still getting plenty of requests for home projects all throughout our community, so if you have been thinking about starting a new project, now’s the time to book a free design consultation with Spindle & Oak!
