Howard Chermak, founder of award-winning Chermak Construction, is a much-loved and respected leader in the local remodeling industry. In this exclusive podcast recorded live at our September Remodelers Council Dinner, Howard provides us with his incredible insight and discusses the ways to evaluate the overall health of your business.

I don't know if you heard, but urbanists are developer shills. At least that's the common conception. In reality, many of us quite critical of certain developers and projects, while recognizing that absolute opposition to developers would get us nowhere. If developers are evil, they're a necessary evil—at least until we rise up, seize the modes of production, and turn Seattle into only to a full-blown socialist metropolis in which the government leads a huge construction boom to affordably house everybody.

No sign of the revolution yet, though.

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By MBAKS Senior Policy Analyst Allison Butcher

Data on jobs released by the Puget Sound Regional Council recently show the four-county region added 362,800 jobs between 2010 and 2017. At this pace, the region continues to add more than three jobs for every housing unit, placing continued strong demand on housing.

As this month’s Builder’s Bulletin shows, we’re seeing more of the same with a very low inventory of homes for sale and rising home prices in King and Snohomish counties. Meanwhile, King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties experienced a 32 percent decrease in multifamily permits the first two months of this year, compared to the same period last year. Single family permits are up 10 percent in King and Pierce counties and down 22 percent in Snohomish County.

The Builders' Bulletin is intended to provide a convenient way to track housing in our market and includes information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, State of the Cities Data Systems, Office of Financial Management and the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Download this month's report: