There were a lot of challenges that most were facing throughout the COVID-19 lockdown. Since the virus was spreading faster than ever, and no one had a cure, the Government was doing the best they could to protect everyone. They implemented national lockdowns in most of the countries with people forced to stay indoors. When the number of people with the virus started increasing, the United States and the United Kingdom were two of the most affected countries, with their Government’s immediately imposed national lockdowns. After the people received the best medical help that the country could provide, and the numbers started decreasing, they would slowly ease up on the restrictions and allow companies and businesses to begin functioning again.

The move to remote working

Most companies learned about the inconvenience of running such a system, and they moved to remote working. Most of the people they were working with were getting things done online. The primary change they were working through was adapting to an online presence which was not something that all companies could handle. While more than 70% of companies had to jump on board, whether they wanted to or not, others could not. Industries reliant on meeting in person like construction, hospitality and similar others could not move to the internet, although they could take some aspects of the work they handled online.

A majority of the employers complained that productivity within their companies significantly dropped since the beginning of the pandemic. However, since they did not have much choice and no alternatives, they allowed people to continue working remotely. There were changes made about the number of people, allowed in physical spaces since they had to maintain the right amount of social distance. Many small offices were no longer allowed to bring in all their staff since they could not accommodate them while following the social distancing rules.

With the remote working rules and companies not seeing the high amounts of productivity they were in the past, they were unsure of getting through the process. They were no longer meeting deadlines, and while business was slow, companies had no choice but to let some of their employees go, while many companies were shutting down. The change meant that people were not spending the amounts they were in the past, since they were quite uncertain about the future. Throughout the pandemic, unemployment rates were increasing, and people unable to coordinate in person were not helping. There were other changes they were going through as well. Although disposable income was not as high as it used to be, people were holding off on expenses that were no longer urgent.

While most construction jobs and similar industries, who coordinated in person were on hold, people were no longer allowed to interact in person. The pandemic hit the brakes on changes like home renovations also since most people did not want others to come to their house, increasing the chances of them catching the virus.

The beginning of home renovations

However, after spending enough time at home, during the pandemic, people wanted to make sure they did up the homes they were staying in. Since most people were no longer getting a chance to change their scenery, they made changes to their houses. Many were adding a new workstation or an office so they could focus better since remote working was becoming challenging, and they were not sure how they were supposed to get through the process.

Renovations​ started on a small scale as soon the Government lifted restrictions. However, contractors were unsure about the way they were going to handle the task since the border restrictions, at times, made getting materials quite challenging. A few studies stated that people increase productivity if they worked on doing up the rooms and the places they were working from. Even their mentality about the work that they were handling would change significantly.

With all the changes that were taking place with the economy, the construction markets were significantly low. People were no longer investing in construction since the restrictions, regular lockdowns, and constant changes to the rules about travelling across the border meant it was quite unstable. The overall cost of material started dropping since there was no demand and people started working on smaller requirements that allowed them to get through the process.

Furthermore, there were other reasons for improving a home, which went ahead with increasing the resale value or renting it out for additional income. Additionally, with the free time that came with the pandemic, people wanted to spend it on things that were more of an ​advantage​ to them.

Finding the right team

Most people were contracting work to another team who would bring in their staff who were following rules and handling the work they were going through. Some of the challenges they were going through were making sure they were picking the best team to work. With a large amount of unemployment, they wanted to make sure they were working with the right people and their clients were safe when they had others coming into their homes. Most employers were not conducting a background check to verify that the people they worked with did not have a criminal record. While there were agencies that allowed employers to gather this information, they were often coordinating with the police department to make sure the information they received was accurate. A ​police check​ was quite common and something they could all handle in one go.