Construction In Colorado: Situation Grows Bleaker By The Day For Contractors

DENVER (CBS4) - Just before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Denver was booming with construction. Some of the essential projects are still going full speed, but many contractors are already taking a major hit and bracing for the full impact of the outbreak.



Joshua Vandenbrinck runs Colorado Metal Fabrication and One Nation Designs. His companies specialize in making things such railings, staircases and decorative fixtures. Vandenbrinck worked through the housing collapse in 2008 that came with the Great Recession and worries the economic impact this time around could be worse.

At the start of the outbreak he had at least 10 regular full-time employees, now he's down to just three.



"We did layoffs in tiers, we didn't just lay everybody off the day this happened, so the idea that we can just turn it back on? We're not going to see guys that we let go that we didn't take care of through this. They're not going to come back to work day one just because somebody said they should," Vandenbrinck said.

Stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures have essentially shut down his productivity.


"I think it should be illuminating for people to understand that we sign contracts when we commit to a job, so if I don't finish a job in a certain amount of time I can incur liquidated damages -- so I can owe money that I've not completed, and none of that has been alleviated.

"All of those contracts and obligations are still in place even though we're not taking payment, we don't have the employees."

Somehow, he's holding out hope that he can work all this out, but as each day goes by Vandenbrinck says it's going to be harder to stay afloat.



"For personal example, we're in several $60,000-$70,000 contracts, and if this doesn't come back online we'll have to file bankruptcy."

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