With some coronavirus restrictions lifted, Whatcom construction industry resumes slowly
Construction is slowly ramping back up in Whatcom County.
The relaxing of some of the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” rules by Gov. Jay Inslee last week has meant a return to work for some of the construction workers idled last month. Some of Whatcom’s biggest projects are getting back on track, including Western Washington University’s residential hall and its science building. It’s also meant good news for those who started building residential homes earlier this spring but had to stop last month as the coronavirus pandemic restrictions took hold.
This is just phase one of the eventual goal of reopening the construction industry. Only some of the projects that were already started can restart after meeting a list of state social distancing guidelines.
“The construction community is committed to following these safety protocols as they want to demonstrate that construction can be done safely in order to show Gov. Inslee the next phases of construction can be opened up safely in the near future,” said Lance Calloway, Northern District Manager for the Associated General Contractors of Washington. “The governor’s construction roundtable continues to work hard on developing the second and third phases on how to further address how other forms of construction can be done in a safe manner for our workers and community.“
Getting to this first phase is a big deal for the industry, which is a major economic driver in Whatcom County. Calloway pointed out that it’s not just construction workers who are working again, but people in other businesses including cement, sand and gravel operators, lumber yards and other suppliers of building materials.
That also includes machine rental businesses including Birch Equipment. Spokeswoman Cara Buckingham said the company has seen a “slight, ultra-cautious” uptick in business from contractors.
Birch has remained open during the pandemic, supporting essential businesses and services. Nearly all of the company’s crews have stayed on full-time and the business has had no furloughs or layoffs, Buckingham said.
Although she doesn’t expect the construction industry to completely snap back, regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman believes these first steps should bring back a large number of workers.
The construction job losses followed a pattern typical of many industries, with the biggest hit happening at the start of the state’s coronavirus restrictions. According to the state’s Employment Security Department, nearly 1,100 Whatcom workers filed initial unemployment claims in the “construction of buildings” category between mid-March through the end of April. The worst week was in late March during the first week of non-essential job restrictions, when 354 workers filed claims.
While construction workers are currently working on previously unfinished projects, it is unclear how long it will take to get going on new projects once those restrictions are lifted. At Bellingham’s permit center, getting permits approved for new projects shouldn’t be an issue, said Kurt Nabbefeld, development services manager for the city.
“We continue to process both land use and building permits so there should be no real delay in how quickly projects can get going, provided they can meet any governor-mandated conditions for construction and financing goes through,” Nabbefeld said in an email. “At this point, all of our customers want us to continue to review their project so that they are essentially shovel ready when the restrictions lift or subside.”
While the permit center office is closed to the public for face-to-face encounters, the city is still getting applications through its online system. That system has been in place for five years and it’s something regular applicants are used to, Nabbefeld said.
Perhaps because of the uncertainty in the economy, new construction application activity has slowed down.
“All in all applications have dropped since last year but they continue to come in and we continue to process them so they are ready to go once the restrictions are lifted,” Nabbefeld said.
