Why a Shortage of Plumbers Could Hurt Home Builders

Home builders must rely on a number of contractors when building their homes, including plumbers. When those contractors aren’t available, builders aren’t able to build homes with proper plumbing installed in them. Here’s a closer look at why there’s a shortage of plumbers and what it may do to the home building industry.

How the Recession Affected the Home Building Industry

It’s no secret that the housing industry saw a serious recession starting in 2007. While the country has come out from that real estate recession and enjoyed stronger demand and higher home prices, it was one of the longest downturns in recent real estate history. This caused home builders to slow down significantly, building fewer and fewer homes.

As the housing bubble burst, the demand for construction jobs dipped significantly and with it went the demand for plumbers and tradesmen in other industries. While plumbers were still in high demand to repair fixtures in existing houses, the need for plumbers to help build new properties dropped significantly. A shortage in demand caused many plumbers to look elsewhere for work, and reduced the number of new plumbers who were coming to the industry.

Plumbing Shortage Hurts Today’s Home Builders

The reason behind the plumbing shortage is easy to understand. However, its impact on the home building industry is a little harder to wrap your mind around. Now that the real estate downturn is over and the home market is on the rise again, builders are ready to start building, but they are finding fewer available plumbers to help. Here are three ways this could hurt the housing and home building industry:

• Home builders will have to pay the plumbers they can find more in order to get plumbing work done on their new homes.
• Cost for newly built homes will go up as a result.
• Some areas will see fewer new homes than demand requires because of a lack of plumbing help.

Benefits of Becoming a Plumber

For plumbers, this means good things are coming in the future. The demand for plumbers and similar skilled trade workers will continue to increase as the housing market rebounds. As a result, pay and job opportunities for plumbers will remain strong.

Register for the Plumbing License Prep Program in Chicago

If you are eager and ready to begin your career as a plumber but need additional training to get your Illinois plumbing license, Illinois Plumbing Consultants can help. Our plumbing license prep program and Illinois mock test will give you all of the tools you need to become a licensed plumber in Illinois.

Sign up for classes today or call us at (866) 608-9523 to learn more about our offerings. You can also contact us online for further help.