The Effects of High Home Building Demand and Skilled Labor Shortage

Business is booming in our industry and we’re so thankful. Last year was nothing short of crazy and chaotic, but incredibly rewarding at the same time. We don’t expect 2022 to be any slower. Asheville Citizen-Times agreed in their article “Asheville ranks 4th in top cities job seekers ‘are now flocking to‘”. With the population rapidly increasing, the housing shortage gets even tighter and paired with the labor shortage, it puts western North Carolina home builders in a position where many have had to transition or make changes to their business models. Skilled, experienced labor can be difficult to find in our area partly because of the high cost of living.

Many Asheville home builders are the main point of contact and subcontract all of their work. Judd Builders is different because we employ our own framing, trim, and warranty crews. We take pride in making these positions available to skilled workers and having reliable and trustworthy employees. This creates huge benefits to home building clients including control of the schedule (our crews always show up when we say they will), quality control (there’s no guessing whether a subcontractor will do what they say or reach the high standards we expect), and there aren’t new guys in and out of your home during the build (our clients get to know our crews on a first-name basis).

We love what we do and work hard to hire the most talented craftsmen and craftswomen in western North Carolina. Unfortunately, there just aren’t enough skilled workers in our area to fill all of the open positions. Asheville is growing at a rate that the skilled labor market can’t keep up with. We are currently booking projects for mid-2022 and we’ve had to narrow down the projects we can work on due to the labor shortage. We are currently only able to take on whole house remodels where clients will move out of the residence during the project. Each step of the remodel process can be completed more efficiently which translates to more cost-effective when the homeowners aren’t living in the home. We also want to take care of our clients’ furniture, decor, electronics, and keepsakes so it’s better for us to remove it from the home during the remodel. It’s a win-win for everyone.

If you have a very extensive remodel and are unsure of whether we would consider it a whole house remodel, we’d love to chat with you. Part of our job as a local business with hyperlocal knowledge of the Asheville building market and real estate market is to pass on our knowledge and experience to help others. You may decide to go with another home builder or it may be that your project isn’t the best fit for us, but we want to help guide people in the right direction. Feel free to call us at 828-274-4448 and we’ll do the best we can to help you out. If you are looking for a home remodeler to complete a smaller project we encourage you to visit the Asheville Home Builders Association or call them at 828-299-7001. They have an extensive list of their home builders and remodelers that may help you with your search.