Hurricanes, wildfires hit construction industry hard

Before the devastation of California's fires and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a key segment of the economy, the construction industry, was struggling with a worker shortage.

Now the 1-2-3 punch of natural disasters near major metropolitan areas is expected to make building projects even more time consuming and expensive.

"We've already got a very volatile, super pressurized, super stretched industry, and just having natural disasters just adds to the pressure," said Eric Holt, assistant professor at University of Denver's Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate & Construction Management.

Labor is most pressing. It is projected that for every five retiring skilled tradespeople, only one is entering the industry, according to an Economic Impact Report commissioned by the Association of General Contractors.

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