Welcome to the blog
Home of our portfolio, press releases, and employee blogs
Here, you’ll find a library of blog posts dedicated to different aspects of the commercial construction industry -- news and updates, upcoming trends, and past projects built by us at The Douglas Company.
I thought I’d write a blog about some good news, at least for multi-family developers. No, costs aren’t coming down, nor are interest rates. But rents for multifamily are going up! According to rent.com through April 2022 apartment rents nationwide for two bedroom apartments are up 22.8% in a twelve month period. In some areas […]
May 4, 2022
Everywhere I go people are asking what’s going to happen with construction prices, and they are right to ask. I visited with a prospective client this month and he told me that construction prices on his prototype increased 46% in two years, which was shocking to him and a little surprising to me. We are […]
April 13, 2022
The multi-family market has certainly evolved over the last several years. From the types of amenities renters demand, to an influx of new single family build to rent communities. Not to mention the changing renter demographic. While millennials make up one of the largest rental cohorts, the age 55+ Baby Boomers are selling their homes and […]
April 7, 2022
It has been a little over a year since the COVID 19 pandemic began and we are still feeling the after-effects of its impacts over the past year. With more of the population getting vaccinated and some states loosening restrictions, it feels as though we are getting back to normal but there are still many […]
June 10, 2021
I am hearing different stories from clients in my discussions. There is no doubt that occupancies in Senior Living are down. There is no doubt that projects are requiring more equity, and equity demands a higher return. There is no doubt that staffing is more difficult to find and more expensive. There is also no […]
May 12, 2021
Lumber – It has been the word in construction this year that we simultaneously hate talking about and can’t stop talking about. At this point, anyone who has speculated on what’s going to happen with pricing has been wrong at least once. While no one can predict what’s going to happen, there may be some […]
April 27, 2021
A somewhat new segment of rental active adult housing is showing signs of leading the way for senior living development post COVID. Our estimating department is currently budgeting and pricing several active adult projects for multiple clients. The product targets baby boomers in early retirement, looking to downsize, but who are years away from needing […]
April 6, 2021
While many of us in the construction industry have been focused on dealing with the steep rise in lumber costs over the past year, a new threat is upon us: PVC. In February, Texas-based petrochemical plants were forced to shut down unexpectedly due to a winter storm that caused vast power outages. S&P Global reports […]
March 31, 2021
This past weekend I was listening to a presentation on a book many of you have heard and read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey; I was drawn towards a reference to an old fable by Aesop, The Goose & The Golden Egg. The story goes like this for those who […]
March 10, 2021
We always advocate for getting a contractor involved early in your project to help with constructability input, provide conceptual budget estimates and other milestone pricing feedback, and control costs as the design develops. There are also three key areas that your development team needs to make decisions that significantly impact project costs. One of the […]
February 23, 2021
COVID-19 has brought forth many challenges in the last year, and it has pushed our slowly evolving industry into adopting many new ways of conducting business, one of which being virtual inspections from our local inspecting authorities. Many of the counties that we work with have put in place some stringent requirements as it relates […]
February 16, 2021
Eleven of us (with me being by far the oldest) are taking Darren Hardy’s new leadership course, which will take all year. The first session talked about the differences between generations. None of it was disparaging. We were all raised with different circumstances, so we are different. I remember coming into the industry over 40 […]
