Shortage of workers

Skilled labor shortages and supply chain issues are the two biggest issues plaguing construction businesses. When attendees of the webinar were polled, 52% said that skills and worker shortages were the leading challenges for their companies at present, followed by another 37% who said that supply chain delays were their biggest issue.

Skilled labor shortages aren’t new in construction, but Basu said that the demand for labor will only increase as time goes on. Construction companies will soon be busier than ever as evidenced by the Architecture Billings Index, which tracks how busy architecture firms are. The majority of attendees, when asked about their backlog, said that it has risen within the past three months, and when asked about their projections for their next year’s profits, the majority said they expected it to rise slightly higher or remain about the same.

Basu said that with older members of the workforce retiring, roles formerly filled by those with decades of experience will become vacant, further shrinking the number of employed workers.

However, there are some signs of life in pockets around the United States. The top four geographic areas of employment growth from February 2020 are centered in the Midwest, in metropolitan areas such as Minneapolis, Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics survey for May 2021. Basu said that it was “very surprising” that the markets were in the Midwest, and not elsewhere like the South or the West.

Overall, from February 2020 to April 2021, there has been a 2.9% decline in construction employment, but Basu said it is rebounding quickly.

High prices of construction material

As the construction industry rebounds, the prices of many building materials are reaching historically high levels.

In June, softwood lumber increased 125% year over year, according to the BLS, while overall price peaked in early May at more than $1,700 per thousand board feet. However, the price has dropped considerably in the past two months.

Basu predicted that much of the inflation that raised these prices isn’t permanent, but he also said that he didn’t expect the prices to come down anytime soon. Nevertheless, Basu concluded that the price was trending downward.

Basu said that eventually the market would even out, and with the high demand and prices for these materials, suppliers would up their productivity and capacity, which would in turn create more materials, driving down the cost.

“The cure for high prices is high prices,” Basu said.

Similar to the 2020 Dubai Expo theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, Belgium’s urban planning prospects include creating smart mobility systems for the future. The expo will be combining Belgian thinkers and entrepreneurs to display their visions for the year 2050, based on today’s creative innovations of smart, clean, and secure mobility. Its presence at Expo serves as an aspiration to convince international visitors to visit the country and invest in it through collaborations with Belgian institutions and initiatives.

The 500m² exhibition space will offer visitors a gaze into the future of Belgian technologies. Visitors will be guided by narrations of the country’s notable Comics, which play an integral role in the heritage and culture of the European country. In addition, the pavilion will act as a window into “the heart and soul” of Belgium and its citizens through the experience of enjoying good food and good company. Belgian brasseries and kiosks will be installed at the exhibition space and its rooftop so visitors can indulge in the delicacies of the country.

The pavilion is designed by Belgian architects ASSAR ARCHITECTS and Vincent Callebaut Architecturesand is conceptualized by Belgian international contractors BESIX and Vanhout. BelExpo also collaborated with the Belgian Buildings Agency for the structural aspect of the pavilion.

Era is located at 251 West 91st Street, and offers 57 residences with two- to five-bedroom homes, ranging between 1,252 to 3,524 square feet. The building is designed by ODA and developed by Adam America Real Estate and Northlink Capital.

Most recently, the Highland Park home was available for $2.1 million—which is less than the $2.25 million Pippen paid for the place in 2004.

“Builders are contending with shortages of building materials, buildable lots and skilled labor as well as a challenging regulatory environment,” Robert Dietz, the association’s chief economist, said in the report.

Index readings over 50 are a sign of improving confidence. Last year, the index quickly dropped below 50 in April and May as the pandemic began, but confidence rebounded as many Americans opted to resume their search for a new home last summer.

What happened: The main index is based on three underlying indices and regional indices. The index that gauges the traffic of prospective buyers saw a pronounced decline, dropping six points to 65. Another index, which measures current sales conditions, fell one point to 86, while the index of sales expectations over the next six months actually increased two points to 81.

Regionally, the only part of the country that didn’t see a drop in confidence was the South, where it held steady at the same level as in June. Confidence fell the most in the Northeast, where the index fell four points to 75.

What they’re saying: “Apart from the higher readings during the fourth quarter of last year, this is the highest range since the home builders’ survey started in 1985,” said Michael Gregory, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a research note.

Market reaction: Home-builder stocks, including Lennar Corp., Toll Brothers Inc.,  D.R. Horton Inc., and PulteGroup Inc., experienced declines Monday morning, roughly in line with the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

96% contractors reported they are on the path to digital transformation, and already have a strategy in place to execute this. For both owners and contractors, data analytics, project management software and operations and maintenance solutions are among the technologies respondents feel their organization should invest more in over the next five years.

Owners responding to the survey said they expect better risk management, higher productivity and organizational efficiency or cost savings as a result of investment in digital technologies.

Confidence in the construction industry remains high, especially in the U.S. Recent legislative initiatives, such as the American Jobs Plan and American Rescue Plan, are expected to translate into significant capital project spending on infrastructure.

Nevertheless, gaps remain between where the industry is today and where it wants to be in its technology adoption, according to the study.

For true digital transformation, it is critical to have a widespread rollout of enterprise-level mobile software that can make productivity improvements and collect and connect data, according to the report. One of the key barriers to this hardware. Although many on-site workers can access applications on their personal phones, they may be hesitant to make space for an enterprise-level platform on their device.

Owners and contractors face a number of other challenges in technology adoption. About 45% of owners and 35% of contractors identify difficulty of integration with current systems as a barrier to investment, while 32% and 39% are concerned about difficulty of implementation.

The burden is on technology providers to “make a compelling business case and smooth the implementation path for their solutions,” according to the report. Many of these firms are gearing up to do just that, as recent rounds of funding show.

The two companies have collaborated on Nexii’s Squamish, Hazelton and Vancouver Island plants. Their most recent work together was on the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Nanaimo, British Columbia, currently under construction with development partner PEG.

Earlier this year, Nexii designed and manufactured a British Columbia Starbucks store (shown above) that was assembled and built on site in six days.

An alternative to cement and concrete, Nexii’s roof, floor and wall panels create a thermally efficient, airtight envelope, according to the company. The insulated panels are coated on both sides with a material the company calls Nexiite, which is made of sand and other “readily-available” materials, CEO Stephen Sidwell told On-Site magazine, creating a building system that is waterproof and fire resistant.

“The Nexiite is both the interior and exterior finishing and is structural,” Sidwell told On-Site. “So, it’s a completely different methodology of construction.”

With the acquisition, the leadership of Nexii and Omicron will be unchanged: Sidwell remains as CEO of Nexii, and Bill Tucker will continue to lead the Omicron team as CEO; however Tucker will also step into the role of executive vice president of operations, A&E and assembly at Nexii to help align processes, teams and key operations, according to the release.

“Omicron was one of the early shareholders to understand the potential of Nexii and invest in the company because we recognized the power of their innovative technology,” Tucker said in the release. “Today, we take our valuable partnership one step further, combining our teams and processes to deliver faster, greener, more efficient projects for all our clients.”

The design proposed by C+S Architects and Citizenstudio creates a system where colour becomes an orientation device, found at the façade level, but also marking the pavement of public squares and community spaces. Two complementary colours signal the two main of the Metrogorodok site: green defines the spaces and buildings in the vicinity of the Losiny Ostro National Park, and red marks the areas along the Otkrytoye Shosse Boulevard, with the areas of interference rendered in neutral shades of light and grey.

In refurbishing the facades, the design carves out loggias, intended as greenhouses, or expands the floor area of the apartments with protruding volumes, depending on the spatial relationship of the building with the forest or the boulevard. The project makes use of fibre-cement panels with ceramic tiles, as well as various brick solutions.

Titled “HELMUT JAHN: LIFE + ARCHITECTURE“, the exhibition is a career retrospective that celebrates his life’s achievements following his death in May. The event will include several scale models of the architect’s innovative ongoing projects and post-modern designs, such as the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, which is expected to be sold by the State of Illinois without protection for its historic design. The CAC and the Chicago Architectural Club created the James R. Thompson Center Design Competition that challenges architects to imagine a new future for Jahn’s post-modern architecture, and debate on the future of his works. The exhibition will also include personal and professional items loaned by the architect’s family and office.

Helmut Jahn passed away in mid May of this year in a cycling accident. He was struck by two vehicles while riding his bicycle in Campton Hills, in the Chicago suburbs. The German-American architect first came to Chicago in 1966, after starting his architecture degree at the Technical University of Munich. Without formally graduating, he joined CF Murphy Associates, which was renamed Murphy/Jahn in 1981, and then Jahn in 2012. The firm’s global projects include the Sony Centre complex on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin in 2000 and the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. He is labeled as part of the so-called “Chicago Seven”, known over the years for joining modernism and historical references.

1. Mold remediation

If the initial home inspection turns up a potential mold issue, a mold specialist needs to be brought in to analyze the issue. Serious mold issues can cause health issues, some of which can be quite serious—including lung irritation, headaches, and skin rashes—and are exacerbated in people with allergies and compromised immune systems.

2. Well water/septic system inspection

Another contingency that should never be slashed is the well water/septic system inspection.

“Surprisingly, this one often gets overlooked or waived, but I would never encourage a client to do that,” DeSimone says. “This is water that you’ll be drinking and bathing in. We’ve seen the health consequences that bad water has had in communities across the country in recent years. As with mold, this is an issue that can be very expensive to fix—a septic system can cost tens of thousands of dollars—and it has serious ramifications for your health.”

3. Financing

The financing contingency is one of the most misunderstood contingencies in the homebuying process, and one of the most important for buyers to negotiate carefully, says Dave Herman, president of EZ Surety Bonds in Oakwood, GA.

“This clause asserts that your offer is dependent on being able to secure financing. If you remove it, you may not get your deposit back if you cannot obtain a loan,” says Herman.

4. Home inspection

A home inspection is the foundation on which all other real estate contingencies are built. In the inspection, a neutral expert assesses the home for roofing, plumbing, structural, electrical, and other major problems. Waiving it entirely is the equivalent of agreeing to buy a ticking time bomb, says Annie Kou, a Los Angeles–based brokerage owner and attorney at AK Luxury Properties.

“By the same token, buyers should never waive [their right to] requests for repairs at the outset for the same reason,” Kou says. “Everything may look OK on visual inspection, but you won’t really know how much you’re facing in repairs once inspections are done.”