Harvey is the most desctructive natural disaster ever in the U.S., and that means the cleanup from Harvey will be a massive undertaking, and will alter the face of the Texas, and regional, construction industry for years, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Kirk Kistner, Vice President of San Antonio based Bartlett Cocke Contractors, which has operation in Houston, says one thing Harvey will do, is suck up many of the construction workers, a profession which is already stretched.
"We are already near crisis level, with craft workers in the construction industry, as it is," he said.
He says Harvey reconstruction will attract construction workers to Houston because the competition for skilled workers will drive up wages.
Kistner points out that unlike Hurricane Ike, which hit in 2008, just as the housing and construction markets were in a downturn, Harvey comes as demand for construction is growing, but in the residential sector, where prices are skyrocketing due to lack of housing supply, and in the commercial and government sectors, where his company specializes.
Kistner says customers will probably also have to wait longer than usual for already scarce construction materials and supplies.
"There will be some materials, plywood, two by fours, sheet rock, possibly things like switch gear and chillers which will be in short supply," he said.
And the result of this will be both longer timelines for construction, and many projects, mainly in major home repairs, will have to pay a 'Harvey premium' for the job, due to the industry being stretched thin.
But Kistner says one positive outcome of all this would be if young people hear stories about construction workers being at a premium and demanding top dollar, it might encourage more of them to enter the profession.
He says construction has been suffering for a long while with a lack of young workers taking up skilled trades to replace the huge number of Baby Boomer electricians, plumbers, and carpenters who are approaching retirement.