By most measures, $75 million is a lot of money, but in the home-building industry in Clark County, it’s a number that sums up just how tough things are.
Through October, local builders have been issued 323 permits to build new homes with an estimated total value of $75.1 million. Let’s say builders take out another 40 permits this year, which means about 400 new home permits will be issued for all of 2009, worth about $100 million. That makes this the worst year for home building here in 20 years. At the 2005 peak, the county handed out 2,142 building permits for new homes worth $392.5 million. That year the industry was paying wages to more than 13,000 construction workers — carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers and concrete workers. Now we’re down 3,700 jobs to 9,300 construction workers.
Home building has been a huge piece of Clark County’s economy. But since the peak, we’ve taken a $300 million hit in direct spending on construction. The figure doesn’t include lost jobs and the wages that went with them.
O’Reilly creates jobs
O’Reilly Automotive Inc., one of the largest specialty retailers of auto parts and accessories, will open a distribution center in Puyallup on Monday to serve the Pacific Northwest. O’Reilly announced plans for the center after buying CSK Auto Inc., which included 217 Schuck’s Auto Supply stores. The distribution center will create 325 jobs. Expect to see Schuck’s Auto Supply stores converted to O’Reilly Auto Parts stores over the next year or so.
