As essential services during the pandemic, the real estate industry and attendant construction trades have been buoyed by the influx of homebuyers to Santa Barbara. These days, living in a densely populated hotspot, such as the Bay Area or Los Angeles doesn’t seem as safe as Santa Barbara, which also boasts a more active outdoor lifestyle than the concrete confines of bigger cities. And it’s fairly common for a newly arrived homebuyer to invest in a remodel right away.
“For sure, we’ve gotten busier [during the pandemic],” says Jerry DeHoog, a finish carpenter and owner of Trim Works, a company he launched in Santa Barbara in 2003 to focus on interior finish carpentry, mainly windows, doors, baseboard, and crown molding. (Recently, he also took on an oceanfront fence job, featuring teak, stainless steel, and copper.)
DeHoog explains that one of the main reasons there’s been an uptick in business is that clients in the middle of a remodel have requested that their projects finish ahead of schedule so they can self-isolate and shelter in place.