After sitting on the sidelines the last 3 weeks while recuperating from major heart surgery, I’ve done a lot of listening to talk shows, watched TED Talks and read articles by “so-called” construction industry experts.
What I learned from all they said was nobody has the slightest clue whether 2022 will be a great year, a so-so year or simply an extension of 2021.
Entrepreneurs are telling me they can’t wait to open new offsite factories, establish new locations, take on more debt to grow bigger and stronger. It’s almost as if 2022 is the year they’ve been waiting for all their lives.
Consultants and experts are taking on clients faster than ever. Most are expected to lace everything they say or suggest with caution but that’s the norm for most of them no matter what year it is.
Developers, tract home builders and modular home builders are simply hustling every single day to find a factory with enough capacity to fill their orders quickly.
Some things from 2021 will continue to haunt our industry like labor shortages, rising material costs and shortages of products and if you listen to the LBM buyers, it will only get worse.
So why do I say 2022 has no instruction manual? Simple answer. Here we are on 2022’s doorstep and the offsite construction developers, factory owners and builders I’ve contacted over the past 3 weeks still have no real plan for this year except to take it day by day.
Do they take a chance on opening more capacity and if they do, where will it be? Do they have the right people in place to make sudden turns in direction because a government agency says everyone in your plant needs to be tested weekly for the pandemic, fired if they refuse vaccines and or worse yet, begin closing factories for extended periods of time?
And speaking of government agencies, when did homeless housing become affordable housing. Those two terms seem to be said in the same breath these days by local agencies, nonprofits and even some offsite startups.
Will local planning and zoning agencies fast-track ‘affordable’ onsite housing projects but still require modular projects to jump through all the red tape the onsite folks don’t?
Remember the good old days when we only had one or two things to contend with? Today it seems board rooms are more about “Did you hear what those idiots in DC want us to do now and how do we fix it?” and less about profit and loss statements.
2022 is going to be the year I am going to call
“Flying by the seat of your pants!”
Related Articles:
It’s Time To Dust Off Your 5 Year Strategic Plan
50 Builder Pitfalls That Could Put You Out Of Business
Innovations In Modular Construction Not For Everyone
Gary Fleisher is Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and the soon-to-be launched Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
