Fan Cams? We'll get there. But first, The Huffington Post reported the following news regarding new home construction “Construction activity is now 82.5 percent higher than the recession low hit in April 2009, although activity is still below healthy levels.” What has this meant for local builders?
We asked a Heidi Powell, Co-owner of Powell Construction how things are going for them in the microcosm of Corvallis, a place which often does not heed what is “trending”. She summarizes with, “Our overall 
volume decreased some during the recession, although not as much as you might think.” Heidi said that this year brought a more optimistic picture, noting that we began to see an increase in the larger pre-recession size projects. I think that confidence will increase further after the election.”
The scale of projects has shifted too she said, explaining that “Although we have been busy throughout the recession, we noticed that homeowners were doing significantly smaller projects, such as bathroom remodels or minor kitchen remodels. This year we are beginning to see a return to additions, complete kitchen remodels, and larger scale projects.
We saw an increase in the number of projects we did and a reduction in the scopes of the projects. During the recession there were still homeowners who undertook major transformations to their homes, but in general projects trended smaller and many past customers returned for smaller second or third remodels.”
The company has a blog, www.powellconstruction.com/blog where readers can see before and after photos of current projects, including a large addition that was just finished.
So the positive trend of construction growth holds both in Corvallis and across the nation. In many economic measurements Corvallis outperforms other great places to live. We are a city of tradition that proudly holds to the Beaver chainsaw sound effect and the same third quarter ‘get em’ fired up music,’ the economy is stalwart in comparison to surrounding cities.
Here is a petty but verifiable difference between Eugene and Corvallis. Compare the average person walking down the street in Eugene versus Corvallis and there is a marked contrast. Not particularly fashion savvy or concerned about Image, our city of highly educated people marches to the beat of its own drummer. And it seems to work.
Still not convinced? Go to Reser Stadium for further evidence and watch the fan cam in the 3rd Quarter. It just never gets old.
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