Things have changed dramatically in the homebuilding and remodeling industries in our country since the 1980s.
I got my start back in the early 1980s working with a true craftsman who became a great friend, Jack McAdams, over the next years. He took me under his wing and taught me how to build things the right way. While I was learning the trade, everybody else was getting MBA, so the number of young folks learning the building trades decreased. Then, in the 1990s, the federal government passed laws to protect young people. Trouble was the laws were so restrictive they didn’t even allow parents to teach their kids how to build things. Kids couldn’t even pick up a cordless drill until they were 18!

From that time forward, finding true craftsmen, skilled workers, if you will, has become harder and harder. And the building trades have suffered greatly. You know the old phrase, “It’s tough to find good people,” couldn’t be more true, than right now.

We’ve done some research on the subject and ten years ago, experts in the homebuilding and remodeling industries made the following predictions. After you read below, please blog us.
We want to talk with you about what your experiences with remodeling have been in the last decade.
Thanks, Steve

From 2015…
Diana Olick of CNBC:

“Builders claim there is good demand, but they complain they’re handcuffed by a lack of skilled labor to build new homes.

The builders’ industry trade group calls the incidence of labor shortages nationwide “surprisingly high,” given the fact that homebuilding has barely recovered from its 2008 crash.

In fact, the 9-trade shortage is now substantially higher than it was at the peak of the 2004-2005 boom, when annual starts were averaging around 2 million, compared to current rates of about one million,” economist Paul Emrath of the National Association of Home Builders wrote in a recent report. Nine-trade refers to the various skills required for homebuilding, such as concrete pouring and carpentry.”