Among the growing number of more promising outlooks for real estate this year is one from the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association. A story in Business In Vancouver reports that results of an annual survey showed that ICBA members anticipate that 2024 will be a better year than expected.
Seven of every eight contractors expect to be as busy or busier than last year. A report on the survey results quoted the Association’s president, Chris Gardner, as saying:
“This seems counterintuitive given that we have rolled from one crisis to another in recent years – from the COVID-19 pandemic, to supply chain disruptions, to inflation and then historic increases in interest rates.”
The contractors (79 per cent of them) identified a shortage of workers as the biggest challenge they’re facing — electricians, carpenters and plumbers, with impending retirements expecting to move carpenters to the top.
So construction trades are in demand — almost as much as more homes.