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The article gives a good actual explanation: Instead, volatility in demand for construction has trained builders to curb investment. “The industry has learned

The article gives a good actual explanation: Instead, volatility in demand for construction has trained builders to curb investment. “The industry has learned through bitter experience to prepare for the next recession,” says Luc Luyten of Bain & Company, a consultancy. Capital-heavy approaches to construction bring high fixed costs that are difficult to cut in downturns. Workers, in contrast, can be fired. One of the factors of construction is "it costs what it costs". Builders are willing and able to pass costs on to consumers and so don't have an incentive for cost savings.

0xB31B1B 5y ago
This doesn’t explain everything though. We have a lot of consumers who want to build modular housing in CA and they are blocked by the trades. The trades lobby against both the construction of modular housing factories and specific proposed modular buildings. They don’t want more efficiency, they want more man-hours per project.
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  ... and they are blocked by the trades. It's pretty ridiculous that you've the whole thread whining about "the trades". A variety of vested interests keep building costs high, with trade unions well down the list. Developers, large, monopoly builders and homeowners' association each as a group have more money than any unions and through a system that bring huge profits by high priced building and land appreciation, they have a vested interest in the high cost of building. Consider that when it's time sell schemes that raise the cost of building, the best "face" can trade union "protecting livelihoods" but that doesn't that's where the real power or money lies. On a practical note - mobile home parks in my area are blocked by county and city government they serve home-values, out here in the sticks, unions really don't have but we've had no new parks for twenty or thirty years. But oppositely, it's easy to put mobile unit on the high price land you occupy yourself. Yeah, it's land value.
  - 0xB31B1B 5y ago
    I'm not talking about making construction costs high, I am talking about lobbying against known technologies/techniques/code changes that can improve the efficiency of construction, it is a subtle distinction. Yes, there are many more players than "the trades" in california that have a vested interest in keeping construction costs high. None of those other interests shows up to lobby against modular housing or cross laminated timber regulations. Here is one example where this lobbying was done in the open. There are many many more that don't hit the papers because the topics are pretty narrow/boring but highly impactful. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-tr...

0xB31B1B 5y ago

This doesn’t explain everything though. We have a lot of consumers who want to build modular housing in CA and they are blocked by the trades. The trades lobby against both the construction of modular housing factories and specific proposed modular buildings. They don’t want more efficiency, they want more man-hours per project.

joe_the_user 5y ago
... and they are blocked by the trades. It's pretty ridiculous that you've the whole thread whining about "the trades". A variety of vested interests keep building costs high, with trade unions well down the list. Developers, large, monopoly builders and homeowners' association each as a group have more money than any unions and through a system that bring huge profits by high priced building and land appreciation, they have a vested interest in the high cost of building. Consider that when it's time sell schemes that raise the cost of building, the best "face" can trade union "protecting livelihoods" but that doesn't that's where the real power or money lies. On a practical note - mobile home parks in my area are blocked by county and city government they serve home-values, out here in the sticks, unions really don't have but we've had no new parks for twenty or thirty years. But oppositely, it's easy to put mobile unit on the high price land you occupy yourself. Yeah, it's land value.
- 0xB31B1B 5y ago
  I'm not talking about making construction costs high, I am talking about lobbying against known technologies/techniques/code changes that can improve the efficiency of construction, it is a subtle distinction. Yes, there are many more players than "the trades" in california that have a vested interest in keeping construction costs high. None of those other interests shows up to lobby against modular housing or cross laminated timber regulations. Here is one example where this lobbying was done in the open. There are many many more that don't hit the papers because the topics are pretty narrow/boring but highly impactful. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-tr...