With several industry reports signaling a potential turnaround in the housing market this year, how are you looking to market your residential construction company to find new prospects and win more business?
A survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders last month shows builders across the country remain guardedly optimistic about the future of the industry. This paired with a continuing housing shortage in the U.S., presents a unique opportunity for builders to start implementing offers that help them successfully sway homeowners who would otherwise forgo a new home build or remodel in this current economy.
Federal Opportunities
Over the next few months, builders will have one such opportunity by making use of a few federal programs designed to save home builders and their customers thousands of dollars.
These programs will offer low and middle-income homeowners rebates and tax credits to help make construction more affordable—which is especially important while mortgage rates remain elevated and material purchasing is challenged by shortages.
The U.S. government created these rebate programs in August 2022 with adoption of the Inflation Reduction Act. The law makes rebates available to contractors and homeowners who pursue energy efficiency through electrification, and adds $200 million, available in the next 10 years, for state governments to train contractors on such things, like the installation of electrical appliances.
Under these programs, some low-income homeowners could see a 100% rebate on the cost of an electric appliance. That, combined with energy efficiency tax credits that can total up to $3,200 each year, can make a construction project much more affordable.
Builders who take part in these federal programs can open their business to a new wave of homeowners interested in saving money and helping the environment. Although just a part of the overall Inflation Reduction Act, home rebates and tax credits under the new federal programs will total about $45 billion in the next 10 years, said Noah Goldmann of Rewiring America.
“It’s really just a question of how much of that $45 billion each individual contractor or builder or remodeler can get their hands on,” Goldmann said. “The ones who know these incentives and can talk to their customers about these electric alternatives stand to capture a bigger and bigger slice of that potential market,” he said.
Because these new federal programs will be implemented at the state level, much of 2023 will be spent working out the details of how contractors and builders will educate their customers. However, because home construction projects can take a year or more to plan and complete, it’s important to keep up to date when the rebates become available.
Want to learn more about these federal programs and how the rebates will be administered by the states? Check out this webinar from Buildxact and Rewiring America.
You can also see what recommendations your current builds would need to apply for the rebates, by using the simple, new Retrofit Decision Tool on the U.S. Department of Energy website.
