Article posted on the Viewpoint blog

You may think the Coronavirus is contained and doesn’t impact you, but the potential ripple effect is large within the construction industry. According to Construction Dive, the outbreak has sickened nearly 75,000 and killed more than 2,000. The Chinese workforce is impacted as factories are quickly closing and production is slowing. As China is the largest building import supplier to the United States, this could trickle down to commercial builders in the form of material shortages and higher costs. Not knowing how long the crisis will continue means an uncertain future for some firms. Once factory production does start again, there will likely be a delay in resources making it to the States due to insufficient staffing and a backlog of orders to fill. One thing is for certain: the quicker the virus is contained, the quicker things can start returning to normal.

The Takeaway: The reality is that the Coronavirus might impact the industry with higher costs and material shortages. The good news is that the outbreak seems to be contained — at least in China. Plan ahead and protect your business by workforce by sending your sick workers home and having a game-plan for labor and goods shortages. Be aware of your costs and automate your workflows to more easily offset these unexpected challenges.