Building Confidence

buildingconfidence_lead
Burbank Housing site
North Bay construction holds steady, with progress on fire rebuilds, schools and clean energy
buildingconfidence_lead

Burbank Housing site

Under Construction: Part 1 of a 5-Part Series

Construction across the North Bay has been astonishingly stable since late spring 2020, with work on residential construction, roads, school improvements and clean energy comprising a high percentage of projects. While some commercial property construction has slowed or been canceled because of the shift to working from home, employers and commercial property owners are asking for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) modifications to enhance worker safety. Such improvements will also refine indoor air quality during fires and times of heavy smoke.

“There was a great deal of confusion at the beginning, in mid-March last year. We didn’t know what was allowed and what wasn’t. When restrictions from the initial shutdown loosened, fire rebuilds were the first to resume. Other work deemed essential followed, including offices and public works projects like local roads and highways,” says Keith Woods, CEO of North Coast Builders Exchange.

Woods says contractors are not as concerned about getting enough personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer and washing stations. “Now we’re focused on how to ensure there will be enough work in the pipeline for the next few years. The pandemic hasn’t led to as big of a dip in activity as the 2008 recession. Since so much construction is needed in the North Bay, especially for residential units, we are hoping activity doesn’t slow down,” says Woods.

Dan McCulloch, senior field representative for Carpenters Local 751 and 35, says the temporary pandemic-related closures provided unique opportunities to test resiliency. “We had to come up with innovative ways to keep the industry moving and working. Since many TK-12 students have been doing distance learning since last spring, we’ve been able to work regularly for months on renovations and new construction,” says McCulloch. “Usually we can work like that only during the summer.”

The pandemic-related decrease in traffic and parking problems benefited some projects, making it easier to travel and have deliveries brought to certain worksites.

“Since so much construction is needed in the North Bay, especially for residential units, we are hoping activity doesn’t slow down.” – Keith Woods, CEO, North Coast Builders Exchange

“That time savings is offset by the time workers have to spend in the morning on health check-ins, as well as cleaning and sanitizing throughout the day. We’re doing everything we can to raise awareness about the need for masks and proper social distancing,” says McCulloch, adding that the Northern California Regional Carpenters Council has helped by training its staff, members and employers in safety protocols.

“We’ve also sent out union jobsite safety accountability officers to worksites and worked with public officials in creating protocols for small construction and large construction. In addition, we’ve communicated regularly with general contractors about ways to minimize risk on work sites,” says McCulloch.

Aligning with national trends

National data for 2020 showed nonresidential construction starts were down 24 percent, nonresidential building like clean energy centers were down 14 percent, and residential starts were up 4 percent. New starts for residential construction reached an all-time high of $344.8 billion, according to data from Dodge Data & Analytics.

The bright spots were single-family housing, warehouse, highway and bridge starts. There were declines in lodging, amusement and recreation, manufacturing and power-related construction, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties appear to be in line with other parts of the U.S. The exception is how fire rebuilds fit into the picture. There are a high number of fire rebuilds in Sonoma and Napa counties, with the majority being homes. The number of new fire rebuilds artificially raises the number of starts, primarily residential starts.

Rebuilding of structures lost in the 2017 and 2019 fires may have recently started or remain continuing. The majority of rebuilds for homes lost in the 2020 fires have yet to start. Property owners are still communicating with insurers to receive settlements and with contractors to schedule work.

Tennis Wick, director of permitting for Sonoma County, says the county’s cities are farther along in progress on fire rebuilds than the county. This is partly because the county covers unincorporated rural areas where it is harder to build, like the hills. Cities cover flat areas like valley floors.

Wick says there was a brief plunge in activity in March. Otherwise, residential construction hasn’t stopped. “Our agency leapt from paper to digital in 48 hours, making many process improvements. Helping fire victims stay in Sonoma County is our number one priority, ” says Wick.

Low interest rates and remote work arrangements helped encourage new residents and residential construction in the North Bay.

“Manufacturing plants shut down. Eventually the delays were resolved. Yet you can’t build 30,000 new housing units quickly when you’re still replacing about 5,000 structures that burned down in the fires.” – John Bly, executive vice president, Northern California Engineering Contractors Association

Still, the cost of living is high. The combined economic impact of fires and smoke in recent years has been severe. In Sonoma County, the number of people who left is relatively equal to the number of people who arrived. As a result, the number of residential housing starts is lower than it could have been had more people stayed. The increase in the cost of materials presented an additional concern.

John Bly, executive vice president of the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association, says the price of concrete shot up the most. “Manufacturing plants shut down,” says Bly. “Eventually the delays were resolved. Yet you can’t build 30,000 new housing units quickly when you’re still replacing about 5,000 structures that burned down in the fires.”

How ADUs and public housing fit in

In the past year, the interest in Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) has remained high. The change is that a new population of property owners wants to build them.

Renée Schomp is the director of the Napa Sonoma ADU Center, a nonprofit, fiscally-sponsored project of Napa Valley Community Foundation, that is also supported by Community Foundation Sonoma County. The organization provides information and resources about ADU planning, permitting and construction to property owners in Napa and Sonoma counties.

According to Schomp, she hears from more current residents who are interested in ADUs than recent arrivals. “During the pandemic, a lot of ADU interest has been fueled by adult children looking out for the health of older parents, who want to have them safe and close by. It’s also been fueled by older parents concerned about their adult children who have lost jobs. They want their children to have a secure place to live,” she says.

Schomp says in some cases, both parties are using ADUs to explore multigenerational living arrangements. These allow older parents to help with childcare.

One way to encourage ADU construction is for cities and counties to develop uniform, pre-approved plans for ADU structures. When plans are pre-approved, property owners do not have to jump through the same level of hurdles of permit approval. They can save money on design costs.

Carl and BB in their ADU in Yountville. [Photo courtesy of Napa Sonoma ADU Center]
Wick says Sonoma County is currently working on such plans. Schomp says her organization is currently advising more people who own parcels in cities than those in unincorporated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties.

“Due to a lack of septic capacity, there are more barriers to building ADUs in remote locations,” says Schomp. Public housing construction and renovation has been progressing steadily during the pandemic. “We have four projects under construction right now, including Redwood Housing in Napa, Lantana Homes in Santa Rosa, and Willow Glen in Rohnert Park,” says Larry Florin, chief executive officer of Burbank Housing. “We just finished renovating The Gravenstein North Apartments in Sebastopol. We are continuing with improvements on Old Elm Village in Petaluma. We have six projects in our development pipeline. In the fall, we’ll start the first phase of replacing 94 mobile home units at the former Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa. We’ll also begin construction of 63 units of homes in Caritas, a development in downtown Santa Rosa that will offer supportive housing.”

Florin says the costs of building went up, while Burbank Housing noted the increases were tied more to the fire rebuild efforts, rather than the pandemic. “We have kept going because we have reasons to get work done on time. Thankfully the Wallbridge and Glass fires in fall 2020 did not threaten our work,” says Florin.

Florin says one thing that has helped the organization is that almost all of its renters have managed to make whole on their back rent. “We are thrilled and a bit surprised to not see a tsunami of unpaid rent. We consistently hear from our residents that they waited so long to get into Burbank housing that they do not want to jeopardize it,” he says.

Time to get schools ready

The enormous amount of changes made to North Bay schools in the past year have included the installation of new ramps, security lighting, roofing and the remodeling of bathrooms and portables.

Rick Edson, deputy superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools, says the absence of in-person learning allowed new construction and deferred maintenance to take place. “It’s created interesting opportunities and allowed us to be flexible with construction companies,” says Edson. “Since we weren’t constrained by the stop and start of school for almost a year, there weren’t big rushes to get things done before students returned to campuses for in-person learning.”

At times the pandemic made it difficult to find labor to complete projects, Edson says, especially last spring. “We’ve overcome that and are now exploring other projects on campuses, such as the use of clean energy and additional deferred maintenance projects,” he says.

Frank Ruggirello, owner of FRC Construction, Inc., a Windsor-based contractor, echoed Edson’s statements about progress. “When students did not return to Guerneville School last spring, we accelerated work that had already been in progress on the library and the administrative building. We were able to complete the renovation of the administrative office in Riebli Elementary,” says Ruggirello. “We also started work on a large HVAC upgrade for Harmony School District. Part of this was scheduled to take place prior to the pandemic. After the pandemic began, we added the installation of stand-alone wall-mounted air filters in all classrooms to the project.”

A crew repairs the roof of Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa. [Photo courtesy of Santa Rosa City Schools]
Dan Zaich, senior director of capital improvement, sustainable design and construction for San Rafael City Schools, says there were slight delays in work because contractors and subcontractors are experiencing economic challenges. “Most of our contractors and subcontractors are based in the North Bay. Whatever they go through affects us,” says Zaich. “Yet we’re working through those challenges to accomplish new construction such as new student commons buildings at San Rafael High School and Terra Linda High School. We’re currently in the design stage for two HVAC projects at Davidson Middle School and Bahia Vista Elementary School.”

Not all delays in construction projects are related to the pandemic or the fires, says Mary Downey, deputy superintendent of business services for Sonoma County Office of Education. “Some delays result from design changes, plan review, the bidding climate, coordination with the school calendar and financing schedules,” she says.

Downey stated in mid-March that SCOE would soon award a contract for modernization of the existing campus and the construction of two new classrooms at El Colegio School in Rohnert Park. “El Colegio serves younger students with special needs,” says Downey. “We hope to start the project this spring. You have to take one step at a time.”

Lisa Freedman, director of project development for Wright Contracting, which does a great deal of construction and renovation for Santa Rosa Junior College, as well as for other schools, hospitals and wineries, says work has slowed since the pandemic began. “Nothing [was] canceled or pushed out extremely far. Last spring one entity put their project on pause temporarily,” says Freedman. “This let them gauge the impact of the pandemic on the project. Primarily, we experienced a slowing down of new projects getting started as potential clients took stock of the situation.”

Freedman says clients were watching to see what impact the pandemic would have on the economy. Wright Contracting is beginning to see an increase in new projects getting underway.

One question is how renovations can allow for the use of high-density filters. The Environmental Protection Agency has advised that upgrades in filters can be part of a plan to assist against the transmission of COVID-19.

John Kaloyeros, lead HVACR instructor for UA Local 38, says some of the older HVAC systems may not have the capacity to overcome the resistance of the higher density filters. This means there could be a problem with pulling air through a filter with a MERV 13 rating or one above that.

“It’s easier to make facilities with newer HVACR systems safer. This presents a concern for schools and offices with older systems,” says Kaloyeros.

Roadwork continues, while training moves online

Roadwork has been constant because dedicated funding for roads was allotted in 2017 by the state measure SB 1. Counties and cities also provided such funding through capital improvements projects. “Expenses for COVID-19 safety measures and price increases in steel, metal and other fabricated materials have had an impact,” says Brian Ongaro, vice president of operations and co-owner of Ghilotti Construction. Some of our private work experienced a temporary delay in progress. We’ve only seen two contracts not move forward since the pandemic began.”

Ongaro says reduced traffic on the highways, a result of the pandemic-related shutdowns, allowed crews to reschedule work during the day. “This made it much safer and better for the workers and the public. Working or traveling through a construction zone at night has its challenges,” he says, adding that the partial reopening and higher traffic has already required Ghilotti to return to night shifts.

David Vail, claims and safety director for Ghilotti, says the novel coronavirus has presented the greatest challenge to road-building. “Our work is outside, but it takes a lot to ensure that everyone keeps their mask on, is socially distancing, and is not sharing tools. When you’re working hard and the equipment is loud, you can get tunnel vision. You want to get the work done well. This sometimes means you unconsciously creep closer to a person talking to you,” says Vail.

Vail also says safety requires constant awareness. “It’s not ideal to constantly have to correct employees on the safety rules and now COVID rules in the field. You want to have people understand the science and give them a tool to remember it, like using your five to ten minute weekly safety training to emphasize COVID prevention,” he says.

Clayton Walton, district training coordinator for the Carpenters Trust Fund for Northern California, says as the construction industry grows, the Carpenters Apprenticeship is continuing to ensure there are well-trained workers to fill the need.

“It’s created interesting opportunities and allowed us to be flexible with construction companies. Since we weren’t constrained by the stop and start of school for almost a year, there weren’t big rushes to get things done before students returned to campuses for in-person learning.” – Rick Edson, deputy superintendent, Santa Rosa City Schools

“We’ve developed online classes, held safe, in-person Apprenticeship Classes, and instituted new practices,” says Walton. “For example, we’ve built personal training zones that help maintain social distancing.”

Walton continues, “the Carpenters Apprenticeship implements programs and supports community-based organizations that encourage members of under-served communities to enter the trades,” he says. “Online learning has been a useful tool during the pandemic. These platforms have created new opportunities, [and] we will continue using them in some capacity in the future.”

Clean Energy Additions to Construction Projects

With recent encouragement from President Biden’s executive order on climate change, North Bay contractors are including more clean energy components in new construction and renovations. The changes include electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, solar energy panels, no gas lines and solar power inverters. The latter devices convert direct current (DC) electricity generated by a solar panel to alternating current (AC) electricity used by the electrical grid.

“If a home or office has been designed properly, clean energy additions save energy and money and do not have to be a big extra expense. Tight homes and heat recovery ventilation can be a great way to improve indoor air quality and save energy, requiring smaller solar systems to be net zero energy homes,” says John Sarter, owner of Off The Grid Design, a design firm in San Rafael. Sarter also served until March 2020 as the program manager of the North Bay Community Resilience Initiative for Clean Coalition, a Santa Barbara nonprofit focused on renewable energy.

Jenna Famular, marketing and communications manager for MCE, says some schools in Marin County are discussing installing backup battery storage for energy resiliency. Pairing existing solar on these facilities with backup battery power would allow the schools to operate independently of the larger electric grid when power goes down. “Backup battery systems can increase community resiliency during power shutoffs and other outages,” says Famular. “[This makes] it possible for neighbors and families of students to utilize the school as an emergency power source.”

Carolyn Glanton, program manager at Sonoma Clean Power, says some Sonoma County schools share the interest in adding energy storage at schools. “One reason is our experiences during the fires. Schools have served as emergency response centers during natural disasters,” says Glanton. “We are currently assessing interest from approximately 20 schools in Sonoma County. We are also identifying sources of funding, including state grants from the California Energy Commission.”

 

Related Posts

Loading...

Sections