Business View Magazine | February 2021

33 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021 with health insurance and 401K access, builders’ risk insurance, and different type of rebates. It means by being a member of the GHBA there are a lot of different tools for smaller businesses that other larger operations naturally have.” In a normal year, the City of Houston encounters many challenges when it comes to building. Hurricanes and tropical storms are a way of life there but they have become increasingly more volatile and destructive. This means regulation changes and being vigilant in terms of not cutting corners on safety. With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the nation this year, the main problem has turned out to be material shortages. Land prices and labor shift a bit year after year, but the scarcity of materials is a new problem. Lumber, as an example, has gone up a record 19% nationwide. And while it is difficult for a local trade association to lobby issues that have more to do with taxes, tariffs, and disease, through the COVID outbreak, the GHBA has still been there as a support system, working with GREATER HOUSTON BUI LDERS ASSOC I AT ION (GHBA) members to make the most of the situation. “It has been really interesting,” muses Morgan, “if you just look at the home building industry and the stock market, you will think that overall it was a great economy, but it’s been difficult to reconcile the success of those two things compared with everything that is going on in the economy due to COVID. GHBA builders have managed to experience record quarters and record closings for different months even going into the fall. September is typically a slower month. Buyers are usually looking for new homes starting in the spring and through the summer, and then once fall hits you try to stay close to home because school starts and people return to routines. But not this year. The building has been very robust through the fall and the Association’s members are sort of holding their breath to see when this is likely to stop. Perhaps it is that homes now have become more than just what they were in the past. They’ve become shelter but also a place of work and the place of