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Construction Industry in Austin - COVID19

6,916 Views | 65 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by TRADUCTOR
COSCAG67
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Anyone know how construction is going to feel this or if projects will be allowed to continue?
tamc93
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I have not heard anything on the micro level (e.g. stop work)...on the macro level (economic) I have heard of bids being delayed and I would expect a slow down in the next 3-6 months.

I know from a design perspective, we went from knowing how the rest of the year looked to only 2-3 months. For now, my clients are looking at this as a time to catch up/get ahead, but that could soon become relative.

Thankfully Austin is isolated from oil and gas, but we still need to get people back to work to keep the economic engine running.
FJB, FPA, and FAZ
TxAgg07
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Residential construction here. I work for a local semi-custom/custom homebuilder and we currently have a backlog of projects for the year. We won't be impacted much this year but if this has a long term impact on the housing market, things could change in 2021.
bodaciousbood14
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Commercial construction here.

We've heard rumors of the city shutting down inspections which will essentially force us to stop but so far we've been getting them.

City plan review is online only and no new permits are being issued (again, rumors).

Our biggest challenge is the supply chain. Lights, gear, elevators/escalators, etc...are being pushed back. Even rebar and PT cable shops are pushing us to get reviews in so they can fabricate before they shut down.

So far we're still running but there are any number of things that can derail us.
Apache
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Quote:

We won't be impacted much this year

Supply chain problems of stuff coming in from China will hurt. No doubt stuff made here in the US could slow down as well.

The tightening up of the border will have in impact on an already tight labor market. One of the guys I use for concrete is in Mexico right now & can't get back across. Folks losing their jobs aren't going to become finish carpenters or masons.

Those trucks packed to the gills with workers are an easy place to pass the virus around. That could slow things down too.

I'm in construction as well... some of the projects that were in my backlog have been shelved or scaled back. People are taking a beating in the stock market & pretty much every industry is in the middle of the quickest downturn we've ever seen. I've weathered the dot-com boom, 9-11, & the 07-08 financial crisis. This one is having a more severe impact across the board IMO at least in the short term. I'm good for a few months, after that it gets a little fuzzy. Looking to cut costs now & save everything I can....

Apache
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Quote:

We've heard rumors of the city shutting down inspections which will essentially force us to stop but so far we've been getting them.

I've heard this as well. I expect them to continue but at a slower pace... time is money so this will hurt some.
JB
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Multi-family construction here. We are all over TX, but we have a apartment project in south Austin. No big delays yet.

My project is north of Fort Worth, and we are in the final "punch-out" phase, at least for the first couple of bldgs. Some subs let us know they would have delivery issues on some random items, but onsite workers keep showing up.

No problem with city inspections and 3rd party inspections last week. Not sure about the week to come.
Aggietaco
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All of our major design teams and Ownership groups are from WFH until further notice and our estimating department has slowed considerably. Not seeing much effect on in-progress work yet, but expect future project development to slow due to limited staffs, pending stock market recession, and November election with deaths blamed on current admin. Have made changes on manufacturers of certain long lead items to eliminate overseas risk of non-delivery, items that cannot be made elsewhere are wait and see right now with a few EU and CHN suppliers notifying us of delays. Crap weather has been more of a hindrance so far.
PeekingDuck
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Anyone know if city inspections for residential properties are still ongoing? I've got a buddy living in a single bedroom with his family right now...
TxAgg07
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As far as I know, yes. I'm work in Liberty Hill. Might be different in CoA though.
tamc93
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I know Cedar Park said they are inspecting as normal. Austin was still going back and forth.
FJB, FPA, and FAZ
homebuildingag
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Fire Marshalls and Building Officials in the County will be operating as normal in the interest of economic continuity as long as the employers and employees follow the safety guidelines in the Order.

Austin may be different though.

To *******ize a phrase...Build the Hell...
bodaciousbood14
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Far as we've heard CoA inspectors will be operating like normal.

I have heard there are a couple plumbing(?) inspectors that have gone into isolation so that will affect the timeliness of the inspections.

What remains to be seen is if subs start to send guys home. I doubt it personally since hourly workers would come to work with the plague if they could to get paid but you never know.
Definitely Not A Cop
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I work commercial, only slowdown we have seen is UT is limiting people working on site to the 10 people rule.
AggieT12
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CoA sent letters out to a bunch of big GC's on jobs in city limits saying they needed to pull everyone out by end of day Friday. Starting to crack down on jobs that aren't government or healthcare facility related.

Rumor has it some of the commercial construction companies are planning to sue CoA since shelter in place was issued for Travis county and not statewide from the governor. We shall see... I'm with a construction supply company and all of this developing today.
docb
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COSCAG67 said:

Anyone know how construction is going to feel this or if projects will be allowed to continue?
I think they will be allowed to continue but I think new construction is going to take a nosedive. Hopefully only temporarily but who knows how long that will be.
Aggietaco
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CoA sent out the "Guidance for the Construction Industry" memo Tuesday night. We've been in contact with the City about extending the deadline as we can't reasonably make our project save and demobilize in 3 days. Inspections are continuing, but they may not beyond Friday, which would effectively stop work.

The only projects, as of now, that are supposed to be able to continue are:
  • public works
  • affordable housing
  • homeless shelter construction???
  • social services construction
  • construction of facilities for the City's response to COVID
  • and construction of facilities defined in the Order as Essential Businesses, Essential Gov't Functions, or Critical Infrastructure
GIF Reactor
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What did they define as "essential businesses" ?
GIF Reactor
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Found it on their website: Business categorization
tamc93
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There is a great deal of confusion still and I expect that the City will have to essentially shut down all construction soon to avoid the double standard they created between private vs public.

Another question that has arisen, is job site safety (in the event of shutdown). We are advising clients that this is the GC's/contractor's responsibility (nothing has changed).

Strange times for sure.

FJB, FPA, and FAZ
TRADUCTOR
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Just wait until hobos figure out these deserted construction sites are entertaining AND a place to also take a crap.
tamc93
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For what it is worth, we have had 10 months of design backlog evaporate over the last week. Nationals appear to be pulling back and holding onto their cash for the time being.

People are cautiously optimistic that we will restart some of them in Q3.

Time to buckle down.
FJB, FPA, and FAZ
SmokeDog
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Just out of curiousity are you architectural or engineering? What is your main area of design?

We do a lot of public and ISD work so trying to figure out how much this is going to affect us.
tamc93
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Mainly civil land / site development with municipal work blended in. I expect the latter to continue with their projects to get the benefit of hopefully better budgets.
FJB, FPA, and FAZ
Definitely Not A Cop
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tamc93 said:

For what it is worth, we have had 10 months of design backlog evaporate over the last week. Nationals appear to be pulling back and holding onto their cash for the time being.

People are cautiously optimistic that we will restart some of them in Q3.

Time to buckle down.


That's the one nice thing about construction, that you get that lag time to make preparations.
TRADUCTOR
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Steve's opinion of essential more of an outlier. DHS weighs in with residential homebuilding.

https://lbmjournal.com/dhs-residential-construction-is-essential-infrastructure-business/
Aggietaco
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law-apt-3g said:

Steve's opinion of essential more of an outlier. DHS weighs in with residential homebuilding.

https://lbmjournal.com/dhs-residential-construction-is-essential-infrastructure-business/
The same applies to commercial construction, but since Austin has specifically noted most construction as non-essential and the Fed hasn't made a declaration, we're still stuck with what the AHJ says.

We are still working to make our major commercial projects safe to abandon, but that takes time beyond the 3 days given. It's not as simple as packing up and going home.
TRADUCTOR
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Aggietaco said:

law-apt-3g said:

Steve's opinion of essential more of an outlier. DHS weighs in with residential homebuilding.

https://lbmjournal.com/dhs-residential-construction-is-essential-infrastructure-business/
The same applies to commercial construction, but since Austin has specifically noted most construction as non-essential and the Fed hasn't made a declaration, we're still stuck with what the AHJ says.

We are still working to make our major commercial projects safe to abandon, but that takes time beyond the 3 days given. It's not as simple as packing up and going home.


Link for commercial is a fed essential please. Adler needs more enlightenment.
tamc93
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COA Supplemental Guidance

It appears they have a process to appeal and provided the document above.

The email they sent out is too long to post.
FJB, FPA, and FAZ
austinag1997
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Heavy Civil continues.
Guy on a Buffalo
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My house is standing unbuilt with thousands of dollars of lumber on the ground under tarps. The framing crew "cleaned up" and left Friday morning.

What can we do to move Adler? I'm going to have to pay interest on this loan indefinitely if they suspend as long as he wants. It's ridiculous that he can stop everything county wide as the mayor; my house is in Lakeway ETJ.

I signed the online petition but I don't know how it's going to do anything. Link here if you're willing to sign:

http://chng.it/qLMTHJK8W2

-----------------------
Truth without love is brutality. Love without truth is compromise.
Apache
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Quote:

It's ridiculous that he can stop everything county wide as the mayor; my house is in Lakeway ETJ.

Who is building your home?! I work for multiple builders in the Lakeway area are going 100% right now & Lakeway is officially open for business. Adler has no jurisdiction over the entire county.
TRADUCTOR
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raging_agaholic said:

My house is standing unbuilt with thousands of dollars of lumber on the ground under tarps. The framing crew "cleaned up" and left Friday morning.

What can we do to move Adler? I'm going to have to pay interest on this loan indefinitely if they suspend as long as he wants. It's ridiculous that he can stop everything county wide as the mayor; my house is in Lakeway ETJ.

I signed the online petition but I don't know how it's going to do anything. Link here if you're willing to sign:

http://chng.it/qLMTHJK8W2
Drink more. Assuages problems and great source for ideas to 'move Adler'
Aston 91
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I'm sure all of you with your construction projects shut down will be glad to know you can go to the tanning salon while you're waiting for construction to resume. On Friday we were waiting on our take-out to be ready at the restaurant* next door, and I walked by Tan Etc. They had a sign that said they were open and considered an essential business. Apparently they justified it by claiming they sell skin care products - probably to treat the skin conditions they cause by frying your skin.

*The restaurant (Saffron on Far West) is worth checking out if you like Indian food with a Nepalese influence. The food is good, and they don't have a liquor license b/c there's a church or school across the street. They also don't charge any cork fee if you bring your own wine - assuming they survive this and we'll be able to dine at the restaurant again.
Lynch
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Saffron pro tip. There's a liquor store a few doors down!
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