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Originally Posted by kevin993
2) The clean up process will take MUCH longer than home owners expect. Approvals, permits, and assessments from public sector and insurance companies. What is required? From whom? In what sequence? What is dependent on what? Most homeowners will have zero experience and struggle to learn on the fly. It will take a LONG time before anyone pivots from clean-up to rebuilding.
3) Demand for contractors of all types will increase. Supply will emerge but contractors will have more work than they can handle. Some will be licensed. Others will not. Frustrated homeowners will struggle to get appointments, get on a list, get attention, and get work done.
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After the Northridge quake I was living in Fillmore. An old agricultural town of 12k people, no buildings above 2 stories and $250 million in damage.
Roll offs were placed around town and people were doing their own clean up, lots of debris. I had knocked down my chimney and garage, the house was built in 1929 so had a bit of damage. A guy pulled up and asked if I needed a hand, nice enough guy wearing a baseball cap with some fishing logo. We unloaded, talked about fishing and he mentioned he was a contractor.
I still remember his name, Doug Mathwin. He gave me his card and we went our separate ways. When it came time to rebuild the garage I called him. He gave me a price of $20k for a bare bones garage. Woah. By this time any other decent contractor was busy and no time to bid projects.
I had done construction and figured I could build a nice garage myself for around $5k.
Turns out this guy took people in the town for around $200-250k with uncompleted construction all over town. A real POS. Dodged a bullet with that one. These people prey on others misfortune, take their money from SBA loans (FEMA) and don't even bat an eye.