Few industries are as beholden to government workers as development and construction. There are many layers of bureaucracy that they have to wade through for every project. In the best of times this adds a cost due to inattention and malaise. However, add a strike as Vancouver is experiencing by city workers and it will grind construction to a halt.

The inability to get projects permitted and inspected makes the developers have to slow down and stop construction. And Vancouver is booming right now, so there is not even the chance for a developer to lay the crew off for a week to save some money. They will be working for his competitor the next day as labor shortages make getting skilled workers invaluable. So the developer is having to keep these guys on the payroll without any work getting done.

In a slow economy, developers could afford to lay off contractors while they waited for a resolution, Enser said. But, in B.C.’s hot economy, developers must continue to pay their contractors during a strike.
“If the strike goes more than a week, it’s going to have a really serious impact,” Enser said. “Developers can’t let their teams go — they will have to hold them.”
Those holding costs will ultimately be passed on to homebuyers, she said.
Enser said the city’s planners and building inspectors were already working flat out dealing with projects related to the 2010 Olympics and Canada Line. via the National Post.

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