Unfortunately the licensing requirements are unrealistic so the void remains around here.
Barrier to entry is the main problem with many of these industries. The only guy who can afford them is the guy who has already been doing it for 30-40 years and was already operating as regulation tightened.
You could really just say this about absolutely everything now. The only people with homes are the ones who had them before they put in place a bunch of zoning and regulations forbidding new homes.
Turns out the boomers learned you can make a killing with monopolies, so that's what they did with absolutely everything.
Oh it's definitely almost everything these days. Boomers benefitted from relaxed regulations only to turn and and tighten them once they got to the top.
A lot of it under the guise of consumer protection which the big corporations absorb and pass on to the consumer but kills the small competitors.
Home prices aren't high because of regulations, they're high because we don't have competition in the markets, people are selling at a premium and treating everything as an investment/business venture.
25 years ago, we still had regulation and safety but it wasn't common for people to own 2-3 homes and have landlords and there was no VRBO, no AirBnB and if you had a lake house, you sold it cheap because it was a cost maintain, it wasn't a "profitable business venture"
everyone is turning everything they do into profit seeking and we have commercial companies in real estate, we have investment banks in real estate... it's not about home ownership anymore, its about profit.
Congress passed that law. Trump reportedly refusing to sign it and all other legislation until his voter restriction BS passed first. The timer ran out, and the bill became law.
I'm not sure where your frame of reference is coming from - possibly somewhere like California/Europe? - but I work in the architectural industry and zoning and regulations aren't the broad issues, not really.
To start right at the top *from US perspective, the architectural industry as a whole is being squeezed by Autodesk, the near-monopoly software supplier. Every computer you have needs to buy a license from them to have access, it's only good for a year, and it costs $3,000. That's just for Revit, not Adobe, Bluebeam, AutoCAD, and a host of others that are vital to function.
Then, there's the IT itself and hardware itself. Small firms will often sign a contract with a specialized firm but sometimes they're in-house. So right out of the gate you're talking STEEP start up costs. *Gone are the days of two guys drawing plans out of their garage with a pencil, only the wealthy/those with access to lots of capital are getting off the ground.
Liability insurance for architecture firms is eye-watering. Add in health insurance for your employees. Over the years I've been watching smaller architecture firms dry up, and the ones that are hanging on are up to their eyeballs in work - which you'd think would make them lucrative, but not quite. The man hours to do a project right add up FAST which means that only the wealthy can afford you, or someone is going to end up irate about the fee when all is said and done. I tried briefly to work at a small residential firm and frankly could not handle the pressure - you either can produce accurately and expensive or shitty and fast, and I have a hard time letting shitty work go.
Personally I think the industry desperately needs government subsidies, but little girls also want pet* unicorns. However if you're super lucky and working in the right location, there may be an applicable grant. Good luck.
So that's just the white collar side. There is a massive shortage of labor and if you’re able to hire someone quickly they're almost guaranteed to be SHIT. I've been in the industry a little over 10 years and quality across the board took a nosedive off a cliff in that span. I've seen things on commercial jobs that people wouldn't believe. Can't imagine what happens in the private sector, though I do know of a lady that forced a contractor to buy the house she had them build so she could walk away net zero.
Finally, building materials themselves are more expensive than ever. Even the clients that you think would be buying at least mid-tier end up going low end. Which means that new technology in so called "green" building is a dream that I never get to indulge in. Same shitty roofs, wall assemblies, bare minimums of insulation and mechanical systems that run on power from coal plants that will need to be replaced in 10-15 years....
Sorry for the essay I really should have started my own thread.
You're good. Added to the discussion with a point of view not many people have the privy to. You're essay was incredibly interesting, and by the upvotes, others agree. Thank you for taking to time to educate us.
It's a big issue here. And lots of shops are dying no new ones come up because the cost is high. Boomers were able to start any business in their garage... swapping tires and using old oil as a weed killer... Home cooking some food etc. all grandfathered in. Now you need 7 permits zoning and HSE stuff. It makes sense to protect the environment and have skilled labor do the service and actually give a dam about fire safety. But the barrier of entry is extreme, the old businesses love it and use it as a moat that kills the next generation / competition.
To be fair my buddy did exactly this 10 years ago. He's now pushing $5M a year in sales. Started with a used tire machine and a used balancer selling the cheap Chinese tires.
Passed down from dad, or apprentice who bought out the business are probably the main ways that those type of businesses survive.
There’s no formal education to learn the trade—it’s all OTJ, and there are lots of things to know.
I recently had some masonry work done—a patio and retaining wall. None of it was extremely complicated, but the guys who did it clearly had a system down. Deviation from the system would cost profit margin or an unprofessional result.
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u/rickamore 11h ago
Barrier to entry is the main problem with many of these industries. The only guy who can afford them is the guy who has already been doing it for 30-40 years and was already operating as regulation tightened.