Almost all respondents to a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) online survey indicated the coronavirus was having at least some adverse effect on traffic, with nearly three quarters indicating a "major adverse effect." The results on the NAHB's Eye on Housing blog summarize 256 responses collected between March 31 and April 6. A quarter of respondents were residential remodelers,
Many of the adverse impacts have become extremely widespread. In addition to traffic, over 80% of respondents for whom the items were applicable said the virus was having a noticeable, adverse impact on six aspects of their businesses: cancellations or delays of existing remodeling projects (87%), homeowners’ concerns about interacting with remodeling crews (86%), how long it takes to obtain a plan review for a typical single-family home (86%), rate at which inquiries for remodeling work are coming in (85%), and how long it takes the local building department to respond to a request for an inspection (82%).
Less widespread but still cited as virus-induced problems by over 70% of respondents were willingness of workers and subs to report to a construction site and supply of building products and materials.
There has been a general tendency for the incidence of the various virus-induced problems to increase over time during the first three weeks of the online poll. It is necessary to interpret this trend with caution, however, due to the rising share of responses coming from the Northeast, where problems have tended to be particularly widespread and severe. Nevertheless, it is evident that willingness of workers to report to construction sites has become a growing concern, cited as a virus-induced problem by a consistently rising share of respondents in each of the four regions.
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