Contractors busy after 3,000 Albany homes damaged by January storms

ALBANY — The powerful storms of January, which damaged much of the city, have been an economic boon for Albany’s construction industry, according to officials and local contractors.

“The city had in the neighborhood of 3,500 structures that were damaged. That’s homes, businesses, buildings, etc., that suffered some sort of damage from the January storms,” Albany Fire Chief Ron Rowe, who also serves as the county’s Emergency Management Agency director, said. “It could turn out to be as many as 4,000. That sounds like a lot of error in that figure, but it is difficult to count how many roofs are damaged as opposed to a tree all the way through a house. There have also been a lot of outbuildings, pool houses and garages that were in that damaged structure category.”

According to Rowe, a street-by-street assessment was done post-storm to determine the extent of the devastation.

“We did an actual physical inspection, street by street, and visited 3,100 of those structures,” the EMA director said. “The other numbers are based on permit requests, etc. The outbuildings increase that 3,100 number dramatically.”

According to city of Albany Development Services and Code Enforcement Director of Planning Paul Forgey, more than 1,100 building and roofing permits have been issued as of March 8.

“So far, for Storm 1, 715 permits, representing a construction value of $13,568,400, have been issued,” Forgey said. “And for Storm 2,450 permits, representing a construction value of $7,340,200 have been issued. These figures are for building and roofing permits only and do not reflect any electrical, mechanical or plumbing work.”

Many contractors, builders, roofers and construction companies were already busy before the storms hit, but now find themselves covered up by the sheer volume of business.

“We are doing twice as much business as we were this time last year,” said A Plus Roofing owner Jason Myler. “So many homes were damaged that we are going full speed and are still six weeks out. Hopefully, customers will be patient and stay positive. Your house may have been damaged, but we are going to get it fixed.”

According to Myler, dealing with storm damage and insurance claims can be difficult.

“If you need help with your insurance claim, we can help,” he said. “It can be confusing. A lot of people are skeptical about bringing us their insurance information or claim and may not know that we can help. It is possible that the insurance company could have missed something, and the homeowner is sitting there thinking they don’t have enough money for the repairs. We can help with that process.”

Other contractors, like Michael Pittman of Pittco Woodworks, are worried that customers will eventually become frustrated because repairs, after two major storms, can take longer than expected.

“We were already busy when the storms hit,” said Pittman. “Now, we are two months behind, because there is so much work that needs to be done. We have actually had to turn away a lot of business.

“I know that there are a lot of contractors from out of town that have come to Albany because of the work that’s here, but repairs are still going to take time. I am worried that customers are going to become frustrated. I mean there are some homes that have been damaged so badly that those people will be displaced for long periods of time. That can be frustrating, but we can only do what we can do. Just give us a little time, and we will get it fixed.”