Single-family housing starts exemplify the construction economy’s COVID-19 heartbreak in the first quarter of 2020.
Total 2019 residential starts were 1.4 million units, just 0.3% above 2018, with single-family starts down 1,000 and multifamily up 1%. “We expected 2020 single-family starts to decline mildly again,” Richard Branch, chief economist with Dodge Data & Analytics told webinar attendees on April 9. “But Q1 was the best quarter since 2007 – 940,000 units (seasonally adjusted annualized rate).” Then March became a tale of two months; housing starts growing early as the construction season unfolded, in line with March of 2019. And then the virus hit. Construction moratoria and stay-at-home orders in the last week doused so much work. “Q2 home sales probably could fall by 50% compared to Q1, bringing us back to the levels we last saw during the Great Recession in 2007, 2008 and 2009,” Branch says. “And that could be optimistic, depending on how long the stay-at-home and physical-distancing requirements stay in place. Click here to read the entire article. New guidance from the Treasury Department appears to allow any U.S. firms with 500 or fewer employees to qualify for the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program regardless of revenue, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. The initiative was created as part of the $2 trillion Coronavirus rescue bill enacted late last month.
President Donald Trump's administration released the new guidance yesterday after the AGC raised concerns that many small construction firms appeared to be excluded from the program. While Congress had earlier declared that the program be open to all businesses with 500 or fewer employees, the administration's “interim final rule” issued on April 2 stated that businesses must have 500 or fewer employees and fall below the agency’s small business size standards in order to qualify. The AGC claims the rule would have excluded many construction firms that have fewer than 500 employees but earn more than the SBA rules allow. Click here to read the entire article. For manufacturers that are considered essential and are remaining open, MAGNET: The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network, Northeast Ohio's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Ohio MEP) partner, has some suggestions on how to keep employees virus-free while working.
In addition to government guidelines which include, Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 the group has sources these suggestions based on what companies both locally and globally are doing. Click here to read the entire article. The National Safety Council (NSC) has been urging companies to take "aggressive" measures to protect its workers from COVID-19.
The organization recently polled its members about the pandemic, 70% of which indicated their workforce is still reporting to a facility or job site. In a subsequent statement released April 2, NSC President and CEO Lorraine Martin said, “In partnership with our employees, we as leaders must be vigilant as we grapple with a workplace safety issue we’ve never seen and face the challenge of protecting those on the front lines. In occupational safety, the onus to protect workers from all hazards, all the time, falls to employers, full stop. In this time of global crisis, we need to understand the critical responsibility we have to our workforce." Click here to read the entire article. While some federal, state and local governments are changing enforcement priorities to lessen the enforcement burden on employers during the Coronavirus pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) regulations remain in full force.
The agency recently released an updated version of its guidance on protecting workplaces, called Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19. Developed in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), it contains recommendations regarding safe work practices and personal protective equipment based on different levels of exposure and other risk factors. Click here to read the entire article. Single-family housing starts exemplify the construction economy’s COVID-19 heartbreak in the first quarter of 2020. Total 2019 residential starts were 1.4 million units, just 0.3% above 2018, with single-family starts down 1,000 and multifamily up 1%.
“We expected 2020 single-family starts to decline mildly again,” Richard Branch, chief economist with Dodge Data & Analytics told webinar attendees on April 9. “But Q1 was the best quarter since 2007 – 940,000 units (seasonally adjusted annualized rate)." Then March became a tale of two months; Dodge expects Q2 single-family home sales could fall by 50%, to Great Recession depths, but begin to recover quickly in 2021.housing starts growing early as the construction season unfolded, in line with March of 2019. And then the virus hit. Construction moratoria and stay-at-home orders in the last week doused so much work. Click here to read entire article. Contractors will be required to pay a hefty sum for failing to abide by new Covid-19 construction safety measures. Police are required to monitor construction sites in Florida's Miami-Dade County, for example, and will shut down any site that fails to enforce distancing requirements.
According to The Lien Zone, distancing requirements include attending morning meetings 10 at a time (and holding them outdoors), not sharing tools, leaving work boots at the site, and staggering shifts. Most importantly, construction employees are required to keep six feet apart. Click here to read the entire article. Confidence among U.S. construction industry leaders generally improved in January, consistent with the burgeoning momentum of the U.S. economy during the early weeks of 2020, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors Construction Confidence Index released last week. While the reading for sales expectations edged lower for the month, confidence pertaining to sales, profit margins and staffing levels remain well above the threshold of 50, signaling expected growth in those three metrics.
As of January 2020, nearly 72% of contractors expected to expand their staffing levels over the next six months, while more than 68% expect their sales levels to increase. Approximately 51% expect their profit margins to increase, a reflection of skills shortages that have driven costs higher and stunted profit margin growth among many contractors. That said, fewer than 10% of contractors expected profit margin declines over the next two quarters. Click here to read the entire article. One crisis facing healthcare professionals and other workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic is having enough PPE to protect themselves against the virus. OSHA has issued interim guidance to help address nationwide shortages of disposable N95 filtering face piece respirators (N95 FFRs).
The guidance advises employers to reassess their administrative controls, engineering controls and workplace practices to identify any changes that could lead to a decreased need for N95 respirators. Click here to read the entire article. |