Home remodelers find there is plenty of work now that pandemic restrictions have been eased – The Times Herald

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Light poured through the empty windows and lit up the exposed wooden beams inside. The home on the lakefront property in Fort Gratiot was being remodeled. Almost the entire thing had been gutted and was being prepped for new drywall. Among the new amenities will be a shower with hookups for body jets on the walls in the master bathroom.

The project is just one of many that home remodeling businesses like LaDuke Construction are working on since restrictions related to the coronaviruspandemic were lifted earlier in May.

COVID-19 and the associated stay-at-home order had paused all services deemed non-essential, putting a stop to construction projects big and small across Michigan. Now, the projects are back on.

Kirk Harms, a field supervisor for LaDuke Construction, walks through a home in the process of being renovated Monday, May 18, 2020, in Fort Gratiot. The coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdown paused all services deemend non-essential, which put a pause on construction projects across the state.(Photo: Brian Wells/Times Herald)

The original stay-at-home order prohibited construction work except for those related to the safety, sanitation and basic operations of a home. This left remodelers with some work to do, but there's not that many emergency calls out there, Home Builders Association of Southeastern Michigan CEO Michael Stoskopf said.

"Most of their activity had to come to a standstill," he said.

During this time, remodelers were able to do some back-end work like ordering materials,speaking with clients, and developing safety plans. But since restrictions relaxed on May 7, contractors have had plenty to do.

"You've got clients who've been living in the house with maybe a partially remodeled bathroom or kitchen," Stoskopf said. "You know they're eager to get that project done."

Stoskopf expects remodeling businesses will operate under some kind of directive from the state until the pandemic is declared over, whether that comes through executive orders,laws passed through the Legislatureor revised OSHA regulations. Jobs will likely take a bit longer due to social distancing requirements, which Stoskopf said is likely the most lasting impact.

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"Where you might be able to put a painter and a trim carpenter and a tile guy all in the same house at the same time on a remodeling project, you can't do that anymore at least not under these social distancing requirements that are in effect currently," he said.

Prices should stay relatively the same, however.

"While the amount of money spent in projects may be the same as it would without this occurring, it's going to take longer for that money to be spent," he said.

"A lot of things we had ordered pre-lockdown had been put off, and we're just starting to hear back from our supply chains now to get material," he said.

With restrictions being eased, the business is seeing a slight influx of exterior work such as deck work or painting.

LaDuke Construction owner Craig LaDuke said the business has many projects in the works, and is also waiting for suppliers to gear up for some other projects.One open project had to waiton a truss manufacturer to start back up. Others are unaffected.

"We have to be careful if we're going to start a new project that we're able to obtain the materials and supplies needed in a reasonable time frame," he said.

LaDuke said he hasn't seen an increase in demand for any particular kinds of renovation jobs, mostly a normal slate of kitchen, bathroom and other improvements. Overall, LaDuke said, the restart has been going pretty well.

"We've got a lot of work, which is great," he said.

While the regulations surrounding the pandemic change over time and could potentially tighten again, LaDuke said he plans to move forward and not worry about the "what if."

"I'm looking at what we can do now, hoping that everything's going to move forward," he said.

HBA of Southeastern Michigan maintains a COVID-19 resources page atbuilders.org/covid-19-resources.

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Contact Jeremy Ervinat (810) 989-6273 or jervin@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @ErvinJeremy.

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Home remodelers find there is plenty of work now that pandemic restrictions have been eased - The Times Herald