Certainly, nothing could have truly prepared us for all that 2020 has brought. On the same token, in this ever-changing, ever-surprising industry, we have adapted and rolled with the punches. We have remained resilient, despite less-than-desirable circumstances.
As a company, we take pride in our ability to provide stable working conditions for our employees and subcontractors. And rest assured, this is not a responsibility we take lightly. We have unfortunately seen local businesses forced to make less-than-desirable decisions in laying off employees and even closing their doors: either temporarily or permanently. Thankfully, at Southern Legacy Homes, we have been able to keep everyone working, paid, and as busy as ever. However, that doesn’t mean that we have not felt the effects of COVID-19 ourselves.
With the uncertainty of the economy, lenders have become highly selective when considering the types of deals they can fund. In addition, the size of down payment on investor-type deals has tripled; and reimbursements that took 2-3 days to process now take 2-3 weeks.
So what does this mean?
It means that we have had to implement a tighter buying criteria for new projects (read: minimal risk projects with high projected return on investment). It also means that we have had to float a lot of cash between reimbursements, in order to make sure that all of the bills and all of our workers are paid on time.
In addition to changing the way we buy, we have also had to make alterations to the way that we work. Our assistant actually worked from home for several weeks… which certainly was interesting, considering that she had only been with our company since the beginning of the year!
On the job sites, Josh has had to spread out our crews across different sites. That way, there is then plenty of room for our contractors to observe social distancing. For example, if our painting crew was in one location, the plumbers would be sent to work at another project, and so on.
It is quite easy to get bogged down whilst experiencing both the negatives and inconveniences of a pandemic. However, we would like to end this post on a positive note. The COVID-19 climate provided us at Southern Legacy Homes with the time to regroup, reflect, and plan for an even brighter future.
We have some big things coming. And we are very excited for the opportunity to share them with you!
