Business
I really enjoyed this conversation with Tom Woiwode who is not only the broker-owner of a large regional real estate brokerage, Coldwell Banker Access Realty with 13 offices throughout Georgia and South Carolina, but also owns Seabrook Classics, a high-end custom furniture maker, and Savannah Millworks, a custom wood products manufacturer. He's also on the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Planning Commission so understands some of the issues that builders and residents and government regulators face.With his wide experience in various aspects of building and selling homes, Tom left a fantastic comment on my recent post about construction costs. I thought it would be great to get into the weeds a bit with Tom, and he was generous with his time and knowledge.We start the discussion with why construction costs haven't come down despite advances in technology. That led directly into a wide range of topics, from materials costs skyrocketing to why skilled labor is so hard to find, why so few young people seem to want to enter the trades, the impact of labor shortage on furniture, woodworking, carpentry, and any of the skilled trades, the pros and cons of pre-fab housing, and we talk about the housing market.