Difficulties Building Low-Income Housing and the View of One Company: A Case Study

This case study investigates low-income housing and why it can be more difficult to build compared to other construction projects. Five individuals of PREMIER Design + Build Group were interviewed and gave their opinions on the subject. Each person interviewed has a different role in the company a market leader, project manager, superintendent, and a project engineer to gain a more diverse view on low-income housing. These interviews were semi-structured and open ended to create dialogue about their experiences in affordable housing. This paper investigates a single project called The Cottages located in Lake Elsinore CA. This process found that low-income housing can be more challenging to build. The design phase of this project was a main challenge that PREMIER faced when completing The Cottages. Furthermore, the acquisition of new subcontractors that were appropriate for this work were needed, adding another challenge. Finally, the budget was something that took many hours and critical thinking to come up with a way to make the design and price work. However, after these interviews it was shown that the construction process of building was fairly similar to traditional construction with only a few minor changes regarding requests for information and change orders