“Chaos” was the word Brian Holtzclaw used to describe the experience of grappling with a global pandemic from within Washington State’s construction industry.
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As General Counsel for Village Life – a residential construction company based in Lynnwood – and Board President of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, Holtzclaw had to come up with an actionable plan for restarting projects, amid all the chaos.
There was a lot of confusion up until last week when [Gov. Inslee] issued some guidance allowing us to go back to work. It’s hard to say what the impact on industry has been because we’ve been trying to figure out what we can and can’t do. At the same time, everybody is trying to figure out how to keep their businesses running, how to keep their employees on the payroll, and keep chugging forward so it’s really been a day by day situation.”
Gov. Inslee announced a plan last week to allow current construction projects to be completed. More recently, he signed an order yesterday promulgating the state’s “Safe Start” plan – a four-phased approach to reopening Washington’s economy. The clock for phase one starts today, which means agreed upon construction projects can resume with adequate social distancing measures.
Prior to last week, an air of uncertainty hung over the construction industry.
When the Governor issued the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” March 23, ceasing activity on all construction projects, there was a sense among some that residential construction would be deemed essential. But in a subsequent proclamation on March 25, Inslee clarified that construction would not be considered an essential activity.
The activity of construction companies was limited to preventing spoliation, avoiding damage, or addressing emergency repairs at both non-essential businesses and residential structures. This guidance, however, did not result in clarity across the board.
At the same time he issued that guidance, he issued guidance to the real estate industry recognizing that there are thousands of pending real estate transactions and it’s important that we not mess up the legal obligations of the parties to those contracts, so he deemed essential the functions needed to make sure those deals could close,” said Holtzclaw. “We’re sitting here as homebuilders thinking, ‘Well we’ve got a whole load of houses that are under contract to be sold and on the one hand you’re telling us it’s important to close the sale, but on the other hand you’re telling us you can’t go finish constructing the houses in order to close the sale.’
The confusion persisted until Inslee’s announcement last week.
Between the construction halt and the rolling out of Inslee’s plan to restart projects already underway, companies were waiting for weeks as negotiations surrounding the plan’s protocol took place.
During that time, Holtzclaw said the Masters Builders Association worked with local jurisdictions to extend the life of building permits and applications. With extended permits, projects can resume without the threat of expiration looming.
Staffing shortages among construction suppliers also presented a challenge for construction companies attempting to plan ahead.
With the federal CARES act in place, some companies decided to lay off or furlough employees and bring them back once there was clear direction of when construction could restart.
With phase one of “Safe Start” underway, workers restarted projects at various sites around the state. Before ramping up activity on projects, workers were trained to comply with the state’s safety protocol and armed with the necessary protective equipment, said Holtzclaw.
It’s going well; it’s just a new normal we’re adjusting to, and we don’t know how long it will continue.”
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