US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in the last 50 years

Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by RC_ITR on Monday January 23, 2023 @02:39PM (#34493840)

There's the theory that building codes are used similarly (and complimentarily) to zoning laws to limit the supply of new housing (and therefore raise property values).

A great example being fire walls and mandatory self-latching doors between garages and living spaces - definitely a logical thing (cars and their gas are flammable, so let's isolate them from the house).

When you look at the data[0], cars don't really catch on fire in garages (fires happen in garages, but usually because of intentionally set fires getting out of control)

So now, in the midst of a housing affordability crisis (or a the end of a great run for real estate, depending on your outlook), we have construction workers using special fire-resistant drywall (that must be cut specially and cannot have holes in it), placing solid steel doors, and generally spending a lot of hours and materials building spaces that people don't even live in.

[0] https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v14i12.pd...

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by asdff on Monday January 23, 2023 @05:54PM (#34496275)

This even extends to stuff added to builds that are mandated by law and have little reasonable justification. For example, a city might demand all new apartment units need to have a balcony, and all new apartment buildings might need to have some open courtyard space. Now you've increased the cost per unit by a huge amount by mandating these balconies and also the unrentable voidspace.

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by RC_ITR on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @02:17AM (#34500474)

And this is part due to the fact that real estate has to (at least in part) be valued on hypothetical replacement cost.

Can’t have apartment buildings reading hands for $100mn when a new one costs $20mn (or have the land sell for $80mn when you only allow 2 stories to be built on it).

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by rovolo on Monday January 23, 2023 @07:35PM (#34497333)

The 2% is a bit misleading because the fire severity depends on how well it's contained. ~50% of fires are "confined" to an object, mostly cooking fires inside pots. Garages are 5% of non-confined fires, which is similar to living rooms (6%) and attics (5%) [0]. The numbers also go slightly up when apartment buildings are excluded[1], taking garage fires to 6% of non-confined residential fires.

[0] https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v21i2.pdf

[1] https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v21i6.pdf

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by RC_ITR on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @02:18AM (#34500483)

Thank you for the clarification, but it still seems arbitrary to single out garages (I think it was chosen because it’s simply the most palatable)

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by mike50 on Monday January 23, 2023 @08:29PM (#34497841)

That's not the root cause. The Root cause is needing a house for your car.

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Re:US Construction worker productivity has dropped 40% in th... by RC_ITR on Tuesday January 24, 2023 @02:14AM (#34500459)

I disagree.

The root cause is that homes are in part appraised (for mortgage purposes) on hypothetical rebuild costs, so this is a way to make those rebuild costs higher (and justify why you’re paying $500k for something that cost $40k in 1980).

If it weren’t car garages, it would be kitchens.

Cars are a separate problem, as evidenced by the extreme housing prices in some of America’s least car reliant cities (NYC, SF, Boston, DC, etc.).

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