Construction on Hawaii Island still hasn’t completely recovered from the housing crash of the Great Recession, but the industry is making strides.
Last year, Hawaii County saw the biggest percentage increase in the state in the total value of the building permits issued, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism.
The county approved 4,811 building permits in 2014 for projects totaling more than $697 million in value. That represents a 57 percent increase over the total value of permits approved in 2013. Meanwhile, it marked a 147 percent increase over the 2,603 permits valued at $282.6 million that were approved in 2011, when the island’s construction industry was at its lowest point after the recession.
Maui County saw the second-largest increase in 2014, approving 1,267 permits for $443.6 million in building construction projects. Meanwhile, Kauai’s permit values increased by 19.7 percent, and Honolulu’s climbed by 11 percent.
Building projects approved across the state in 2014 totaled more than $3.3 billion in value, with Oahu seeing the lion’s share of more than $2 billion.
The growth last year in Hawaii County’s construction industry was across the board, but residential construction represented the single-largest growth area, with a 98 percent increase in the value of residential construction projects.
“I definitely feel like our business has seen increases,” said Diane Tarring, who along with her husband, Jim, has owned and operated Jet Builders Inc. on the Big Island for 25 years.
“We’re very, very, very busy. We’ve even had to be turning some work away. We’re trying now to hire more people. It’s wonderful. It’s a great problem to have,” she said with a laugh.
While the company has done some commercial work, residential building is Jet Builders’ bread and butter she said.
“Just this week alone, I’ve written up four proposals,” she said.
The Hamakua Coast is an especially hot location right now for home construction, she said, with all four of her new proposals for properties in that area.
“We’ve had homes at Pepeekeo Point, we finished another home out in Laupahoehoe, the Onomea Bay area and subdivisions down in there,” she said. “We also have homes in town, too, like Hilo Hillside, one in Waiakea Uka. … I think that right now on the Big Island, there are some beautiful places here, and we have so much to offer that is affordable,” she said.
Craig Takamine of Takamine Construction Inc. agreed that residential building has taken off.
“Single-family residential building is quite strong here in East Hawaii,” he said. “That trend should continue as the demand is quite strong and interest rates are still at relatively low levels. On the West side, developments such as Hualalai and Kohanaiki have been booming. It seems as construction cannot keep up with the current demand for luxury accommodations.”
Carolyn Loeffler, co-owner at Loeffler Construction Inc. and president of the Hawaii Island Contractors Association, said Thursday that her members all have reported gains in business.
“Speaking with many of our contractor members through the last few months, both the larger contractors and the smaller ones have work lined up ahead of them,” she wrote in an emailed response to questions. “This is a good sign. It wasn’t that long ago where many of us did not have that stability.”
Loeffler added that a number of recent government projects also have opened up avenues for isle contractors.
“One that I reflect on is the Kapiolani Extension that is currently underway by Isemoto Construction,” she said. “This opens up so many doors for developers and the University (of Hawaii at Hilo) to expand.”
The current boom has been so good, in fact, that some jobs have become very difficult to fill, Loeffler said. Association member Les Isemoto of Hilo-based Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd. told her that there has been a shortage of operators, laborers and carpenters to fill the needs for many of the island’s larger contractors, she said.
“He also is very optimistic that the Hawaii construction economy will continue to thrive and strengthen,” Loeffler said. “Les feels that the interest rates being low is a huge factor to continued growth.”
In addition to residential construction, the DBEDT data showed a 44 percent increase in nonresidential projects, and a 16 percent increase in value for additions and alteration projects.
Among the state’s largest contractors that participated in DBEDT’s reporting, Isemoto Contracting took the No. 12 spot, reporting revenues in 2014 totaling $71.3 million. That represented a 51.38 percent increase from its $47.1 million in revenues reported the previous year.
The biggest contractor in the state was Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc., which reported revenues totaling $546 million. That was a 28.47 percent increase over its 2014 revenues.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
