Business View Caribbean | Volume 8, Issue 12

47 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12 TALCOVE developer to finish some projects and then continue on. And that also allowed me to venture out and develop the company outside of the development where we started, which is Schooner Bay Bahamas. So for the past seven years, we’ve worked mostly on high-end residential custom homes. We’ve done a variety of design-builds, as well as clients providing their own designs. The whole intent for me was to form a construction company that was unique in the sense of the type of work we do. So we venture into all aspects of residential construction.” Most of the firm’s work is done around the Abacos – Great Abaco and some of the Out Islands and the Cays. Ninety-five percent of Talcove’s projects have been residential construction, as well as some restoration and remodelling work from hurricane damage. A lot of the current work is remodelling, but there is new construction getting ready to start. Business has picked up on both sides – restoration and new builds. As a company, Talcove was impacted significantly by COVID-19. With demand very high and the supply very low, delays have been astronomical in terms of just being able to get material. Items which would normally take two weeks are now taking three to four months, which is also making it very difficult to pin down a schedule for projects. Because they just don’t know what the availability of products is going to be. Wallace explains, “For us, there was the issue where the world was at a complete halt where nothing was happening, to a point where things started to move very slowly. Then, in some instances, the cost of construction went up 300%. That also made it very difficult to get things done effectively, especially if you already had a signed contract and you didn’t have a clause in it for any catastrophic situation, like we experienced with the pandemic. There was not a lot of flexibility because money was tight