Post by Alexandra Jelencovich

History being made in Manutua with UDA and Turn the Key. My spidey sense always perks up when I hear lenders commit to the quality of construction for the project they finance. The relationship between Bank > Builder > Sub Contractor / Vendor is unsustainable on a good day. As a sub contractor who knows my organizations value, I am weary of signing my company’s rights over every single time I want to be awarded a project. Why? Because trusting a Builder to.. 1. do the right thing by choosing quality labor and products aka not the cheapest contract, 2. provide adequate payment in a timely manner, 3. or make the necessary decisions for quality assurance ..will typically land us on a few paths, 1. self-managing exterior trade sequencing due to lack of knowledge of site supers or other trades, 2. self-funding my scope of work 100% out of pocket for 60-90+ days, 3. defending the builder post close after claims are filed at association transition All 3 (& there are many more) items listed above turns my already slim profit margin into negative monies and exhausted efforts. Negative profit margins Insurance claims post turnover Liability, liability, liability. This is how Philadelphia builds. All liability goes to the trade labor who is barely surviving cash flow wise. This is how America builds. This is why the trades are dying. Why quality labor cannot be sustained in a real scalable way. New homes sound promising if their exteriors are functional and more water infiltration claims are avoided. Or else, we are simply building liability and selling it to homeowners. My hope is Turn the Key builds better - but if the tax abatement years have taught us anything - mass push to build new homes ends in disaster for trade labor and homeowners. Builders and financing partners “quality” construction looks very different than the end result I see onsite every day during construction. And every day after during the 10-year warranty period.

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