By Phil Crone, Executive Officer
Dallas Builders Associaiton
The first thing I do before writing this column every year is go back and read the ones from prior years. I take inventory of the problems we solved and see if my premonitions of the ones ahead came true or not. Suffice it to say, I missed the mark from 2019 to 2020, failing to anticipate that months later we’d be fighting for the very existence of our industry while supplying our members with gallons of hand sanitizer, masks and gloves.
Last year, I anticipated 2021’s defining challenges to include permit delays in Dallas, the state legislative session, and safely restarting our events as we passed the acute phase of the pandemic. While those certainly came to fruition, I had no idea that another crisis was lurking right around the corner.
Sure enough, in the span of fewer than 12 months, we went from confronting a global pandemic to seeing our office on The Weather Channel. Despite our preparation, February’s winter freeze and the state’s subsequent inability to supply power proved too much for our fire sprinkler system. A broken pipe ejected more than 150,000 gallons of water into our office, inundating everything within a foot of the floor and much more near the scene of the break. Our resolve and resilience were going to be tested again.
Past President Michael Turner was one of the first on the scene at the office and it feels like he’s barely left since. Michael is one of the most technically proficient builders in the area, and it was a great relief when he stepped up to captain the extensive rebuild of our office.
There’s so much to this project — from drying out and taking inventory of the damage, redesigning the space, procuring materials, and scheduling trades in a difficult market — as well as extracting insurance proceeds. On the latter issue, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Hotchkiss Insurance and Property Loss Associates for their advocacy on our behalf.
Our headquarters is more than 20 years old, so this challenge also presented an opportunity to make the office more compatible with how we operate today and a better place for our staff and members to do business. This is only possible with the donations we’ve received from generous members.
A complete list is on DallasBuilders.org, but I wanted to specifically thank our three largest ones. Past President George Lewis, Highland Homes, and the National Association of Home Builders each contributed at least $25,000 of the $162,000+ we have raised to date.
There’s so much more detail I am leaving out of this story, but odds are pretty good you have been following our journey. Thanks for that goes to Barcie Vilches, Misty Varsalone, and Holly Pemberton on our staff for establishing our Rebuilding #BetterTogether campaign.
That effort included creating a web page to chronicle our progress supported by digital ads. Those ads generated more than 50,000 views. In addition, Tom Sadler & Associates worked with Michael Turner on an educational video series focused on various aspects of the extensive project. To date, they’ve created more than 40 videos with more to come as we approach completion in the coming months.
Skyrocketing lumber costs, permitting challenges in Dallas, contract escalation clauses, and supply chain snags were all common themes for us to speak on. Many years ago we started down the path of trying to become the go-to source. A few times during the year, it felt like the phone was ringing too much. When I mentioned that to Barcie Vilches, our Director of Communication, she was always quick to say, “Remember, we asked for this.”
Addressing the need for certainty, expediency and cost-efficiency were the underlying objectives for each and every issue we encountered on the local, state and national levels. Locally, we continue to reckon with delays to the development and construction plan review process. The most notorious of these struggles continue to be with the City of Dallas, which remains unable to get its act together on construction permitting.
We were able to defeat a proposed development moratorium in Forney and improve slow permitting times that were occurring in one of our region’s new hot spots for growth. We also mitigated the impact of a multifamily development moratorium in Grand Prairie that the council pushed through in the midst of the winter storm.
Codes took center stage during the legislative session as well. Despite a tumultuous end to the regular session, we were able to pass HB 3215 which provides a new flexible and verifiable compliance pathway for the state energy code. The new law will provide much-needed certainty and clarity for builders over the next decade. A lot of credit here goes to James Rodriguez with Fox Energy Specialists for helping Dallas BA and Texas Association of Builders (TAB) staff ensure the bill hit the mark.
At the federal level, we remained engaged with our Congressional delegation, holding numerous meetings on costly lumber tariffs, supply chain challenges, and proposed regulatory intrusion into the code-making process. We also met with Senator John Cornyn to discuss the soaring price of lumber.
Coming full circle on this recap of the year gone by, I am amazed at how resilient our members, staff, leadership and this entire industry continue to be in an otherwise chaotic world.
Looking ahead to 2022, I know it will test our resolve as we cope with shortages of labor, materials, and lots, along with rising costs fueled by inflation and higher interest rates. We have also learned, the hard way in some cases, that we have to expect the unexpected. When those challenges come, we will need to rely on our collective resolve to see us through.
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Phil Crone is the executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association, the trade association and network of Dallas builders. Find out more about the DBA at dallasbuilders.com.
