Another advantage: Small builders are more willing to offer extra services such as flexible floor plans, as opposed to a handful of cookie-cutter layouts.
The NAHB is worried that the contraction in construction lending by community banks will force more small builders out of business resulting in more job losses industry wide and across the country.
Fallows wraps the saga of two small-airplane builders around the larger story of today's burgeoning American aviation, spinning a gripping tale.
And Paul Bogle of the National Federation of Builders explains how small building firms are coping with a lacklustre housing market.
Seery, an American expat who has spent 30 years in Indonesia, crafted the tropical-hardwood vessel herself, supervising a small army of Sulawesi boat builders.
Constraints include a lack of on-hand ready-to-build lots (the price of pre-developed land lots has skyrocketed), tight lending standards for small to mid-sized builders, and a notable shortage of construction workers since tradesmen fled the city several years ago and have not returned.
FORBES: Surprise! Some Cities Are Actually Experiencing Housing Shortages
Although new home sales may have shown a small overall drop in February, builders expect the building of new homes for the nation's middle-aged and retired population to expand strongly.
Small to mid-sized home builders have struggled to access credit, which is predominantly underwritten by the banks, and a recession could put a damper on what little lending is out there.
Meanwhile, in a survey conducted by the Federation of Master Builders, a third of small to medium-sized building firms said they feared they would have to cut staffing levels this year in the face of a continuing decline in the industry.
They, in turn, subcontract work to builders and engineers, who subcontract further, down to small gangs of labourers recruited by a single boss.
What they and the government need to do now is support the small-scale entrepreneurs who want to train legions of wood workers, home builders, machine-operators, and plumbers.
The original nest builders can be a lone female, a mated pair, or a small and weakly organized group.
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