Confronting America’s Labor Shortage: Mohammad Shwiqi’s Effort to Support Housing Through Smarter Renovation.
The United States currently faces a significant housing crisis. Affordability and zoning are undoubtedly among the top housing issues in America, with rent and housing costs increasing at astronomical rates.
However, another important housing issue that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough in the mainstream media is the lack of skilled labor in home construction and renovation. Politicians and policymakers spend too much time debating housing costs and the sale of residential homes to large corporations. Still, they don’t spend enough time considering the impact that skilled labor shortages have on housing supply and pricing.
In any business market, the only way to satisfy the rising demand for a product is to create more supply. So, when it comes to affordable housing shortages in the American real estate market, the only solution is to acquire skilled labor to build, renovate, and maintain homes to meet this demand. Unfortunately, without enough skilled laborers to perform this work, the housing crisis will continue to get worse.
Even if the politicians were able to reduce inflation and housing production costs, they would still have the problem of finding a robust labor force to perform the work needed. It is something that even the best policy incentives for housing cannot fix.
The PropTech Platform – A Viable Solution in the Works
Real estate developer Mohammad Shwiqi is working on a potential solution to address the growing housing crisis in the United States. The solution is called the “PropTech” platform.
Thanks to his extensive background in real estate development and construction management, Shwiqi designed this technologically sophisticated platform to enable homeowners to find the most qualified tradespeople in the industry. These are people who possess the necessary skills and experience in home construction and renovation.
Here is a breakdown of the two biggest benefits associated with Shwiqi’s groundbreaking new PropTech platform:
1) Rebuilding the Labor Pipeline
Plenty of qualified tradespeople exist in the United States. The problem is that many of them go underrecognized or underutilized because they don’t have access to the latest job opportunities in the industry. Meanwhile, homeowners struggle to find these tradespeople because they are unaware of their locations.
The PropTech platform will serve as a bridge that connects these two groups. The tradespeople can use the platform to find new clients who are looking for home construction and renovation workers just like them. It also provides workers with tools to manage their work and robust mechanisms to build their reputations in the industry. Reputation building is particularly important for younger workers who are looking to make a prosperous and financially rewarding career in the renovation trade.
Most importantly, these workers will have access to job opportunities where they can earn supplemental income on top of the income they earn from their full-time jobs. Even younger workers without full-time jobs can turn to this platform to find high-paying construction work that offers the kind of protection and payment security they deserve.
The end goal is that the platform will help create a cultural shift that brings fresh talent into the real estate field. Such a shift is critical to national resilience when it comes to meeting the growing housing demand.
2) Unlocking Homeowner Demand
Homeowners can benefit just as much from the PropTech platform. They will no longer struggle with finding qualified workers to complete their construction and renovation projects. Instead, they will receive increased transparency and safety when searching for skilled workers because all the potential contractors are properly screened and vetted. That saves homeowners the time and agony of having to perform these background checks themselves.
Homeowners using the platform can have peace of mind in knowing that they can trust the labor quality and delivery given to them by the workers. Then, more homeowners will want to start new residential construction, renovation, and expansion projects because they will have confidence in the workers and their abilities to get the jobs done right.
As a result, more homes will be renovated, expanded, and constructed across the United States. With more new and improved homes entering the real estate market, it will go a long way in meeting the rising housing demand, including in urban areas where undeveloped land is scarce. Hopefully, the influx of new housing supply will lower real estate rental and sales costs for Americans throughout the country.
About Mohammed Shwiqi
Mohammed Shwiqi’s background includes a Master’s in Real Estate from Harvard University and a Master of Science in Construction Management from Columbia University.
His professional career began as a project engineer for Delta Air Lines at Terminal 4 in JFK International Airport’s Redevelopment Program. After that, Shwiqi worked full-time as a construction manager for STV, where he managed a $130 million renovation project for a landmark building in Downtown Brooklyn.
Shwiqi has over five years of experience as a leader in the property development sector. His expertise includes overseeing large-scale commercial, residential, and mixed-use real estate development projects, both from a strategic and investment standpoint.
Shwiqi’s inspiration for developing the PropTech platform came from his time at Harvard, where he studied affordable housing and community development. These studies exposed him to the inefficiencies of urban development, housing policies, and market dynamics.
His biggest takeaway was that labor shortages and inefficient connectivity between qualified tradespeople and homeowners were among the primary reasons for the housing issues in America. Homeowners continuously hired unqualified workers who kept making expensive mistakes, sometimes costing as much as a million dollars.
“My background taught me that better tools can build not just better buildings, but also better systems, communities, and futures,” said Shwiqi. “I knew there had to be a way to leverage technology to expand access to skilled labor, streamline communication, and bring transparency to this industry in a modern, equitable way.”
Conclusion
The United States is seeking a solution to build homes smarter, faster, and more inclusively. There are plenty of qualified tradespeople available for homeowners to hire. These homeowners need a solution like Shwiqi’s PropTech platform to connect with the workers and vice versa.
It is a win-win opportunity for everyone because it gives economic empowerment to laborers, confidence to homeowners, and momentum to viable solutions that solve the housing crisis in America.
