The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The construction industry is the “busiest” it has been in five years as Hurricane Matthew rebuilding ramps up, the Bahamian Contractors Association’s (BCA) president yesterday estimating 90 per cent of the sector is now “fully engaged”.

Leonard Sands told Tribune Business: “It’s amazing the amount of work going on. I don’t know the dollar value, but in terms of the number of contractors engaged, I would say that 90 per cent of all contractors have been hired.”

Describing this as “really robust”, Mr Sands said the level of construction activity on New Providence in the wake of Hurricane Matthew’s devastation was the greatest he had seen for five years.

“The industry has not been this busy since 2011-2012,” the BCA president disclosed to this newspaper. “They’ve not seen this for probably five years.

“Baha Mar was then ready to ramp up a bit. In terms of the construction industry, it was still dealing with project work at that time. Baker’s Bay was hot, things were happening at Schooner Bay and on different islands.

“It really took a dive in the years since, but we’re now seeing a level of activity that we’ve not seen since the end of 2011. It’s not just on New Providence, but also Grand Bahama and the Family Islands. People have to get their homes back into condition to live in; they have to get it done.”

Many Bahamians are drawing on savings and other financial resources in their immediate possession to finance home, and business, repairs following the damage created by Matthew’s Category Three/Four winds and storm surges.

Mr Sands, though, suggested that the pace of construction industry activity would likely further increase once insurance claims were processed, and payouts were made to impacted Bahamian policyholders.

The Bahamas Insurance Association (BIA), and its property and casualty underwriter members, estimated earlier this week that total insured losses from Matthew could “exceed $400 million”, with associated payouts potentially representing a massive capital injection into the economy.

“At this point in time, I’ve bumped into a number of persons in the industry, and the talk essentially was: ‘Everywhere there’s work, work, work’,” Mr Sands told Tribune Business.

“Everyone is going out to do this work as well, and as quickly, as they can. Everyone is engaged.”

Mr Sands said he and the BCA had received no reports of any building materials supply shortages, or complaints of ‘price gouging’ by either merchants or contractors, following Matthew’s passage.

Some building materials suppliers warned earlier this week that the storm’s impact on the south-eastern US coastline, stretching from Florida to the Carolinas, could cause shortages in the Bahamas as Americans look to rebuild their own homes and businesses.

Mr Sands, though, said the BCA and its members “haven’t seen that at the present time”, adding: “We’ll certainly know if a materials shortage comes into being.”

The BCA, too, had yet to receive any complaints of ‘price gouging’ when it came to construction work and the cost of supplies.

“We have our website wide open, and anyone can contact us and write in,” Mr Sands said. “We’re the first people they call if they are experiencing it [price gouging], and we haven’t had anything yet.”

Given that the construction industry ‘soaks up’ much of the Bahamas’ semi-literate and illiterate workforce, post-Matthew repairs and restoration could provide unexpected employment for many who were previously idle or unemployed.

The sector’s increased work volume might also help to ‘net off’, or cancel out, the temporary unemployment suffered in other industries, such as the hotels, as a result of Matthew.

Patrick Ward, Bahamas First’s president and chief executive, told Tribune Business yesterday there was “very little question” that Matthew would be the greatest single loss event in Bahamian history for the insurance industry.

This falls into line with the BIA’s earlier $400 million insured loss estimate, and Mr Ward said: “We’ve been getting quite a lot of claims.

“We’ve had a full office of people since Monday, and clients coming in on a continual basis in New Providence to report claims. Claims are being filed on a continual basis.”

Mr Ward said this was not occurring just on New Providence, but on Grand Bahama as well. Agents and brokers that were not among its affiliates are also handling claims inquiries and processing.

“I know the numbers are creeping up beyond the numbers seen in previous events, both in terms of quantity of claims and the ultimate loss numbers,” he added.

The Bahamas First chief added that the Government’s infrastructure replacement costs were also “going to be pretty significant”, as assets such as public buildings and roads were often not insured for catastrophic events such as hurricanes.