1. Workers' comp for 2027 is being set now — and it depends on your state
Washington's Department of Labor & Industries proposed on September 22 an average 4.9% increase in workers' comp rates for 2027 — about $1.44 a week per full-time employee, with employers paying roughly three quarters of the premium. Public hearings are October 27 (in person, Tumwater), October 28 and October 29 (online); written comments close at 5 PM on October 29; final rates are due November 30 and start January 1, 2027.
Florida is going the other way: the rating bureau NCCI filed an average 7.4% decrease for January 1, 2027, reported by Insurance Journal on August 25. In that report it was still waiting for the state regulator's approval.
Why it matters: both numbers are averages. L&I says each employer's change depends on its industry and its claims history, and construction classes rarely move with the average. A job you price today and finish in February is paid for at next year's rate.
- Ask your insurance agent this week what your own class rate is expected to be on January 1, and use that number in any estimate for work that runs past New Year.
- Ask the same agent what happens at your premium audit when a sub's certificate of insurance has lapsed — and collect a current certificate from every sub before the next job starts.
- In Washington: if the increase hurts, the hearings and the comment deadline above are where to say so.
2. NAHB: enforcement is keeping legal workers off jobsites
On September 25 the National Association of Home Builders wrote that "in some markets, stepped up immigration enforcement has discouraged legally authorized workers from reporting to jobsites, delaying home construction and raising costs." It did not name the markets. NAHB puts immigrants at more than a quarter of the construction workforce.
NAHB's own figures from September 29 show the squeeze: 251,000 open construction jobs in August against 213,000 a year earlier, while the hiring rate fell from 4.1% to 3.7%. This does not fully agree with yesterday's note, where residential construction employment was down over the year — NAHB explains that the demand for workers is coming from data centers and other non-residential work, not from housing. Whether people are easy or hard to find depends on your trade and your town.
Why it matters: a crew that does not show up moves your schedule, and a general contractor is not automatically clear of what a sub does. NAHB's guidance for builders says that knowingly using a sub who employs people without work authorization can put the liability on the general contractor, and that "willful blindness" counts as knowing.
- Read NAHB's free fact sheets (English and Spanish): what to do at a site visit, and best practices when the visit targets a subcontractor.
- NAHB publishes sample contract language requiring subs and vendors to follow immigration law. Show it to your attorney before you add it to your sub agreements.
- Decide now who on each jobsite calls you — and your attorney — if agents arrive. NAHB's guidance says to call counsel before engaging formally.
- Leave a few days of slack in schedules promised to customers this fall.
3. Remodeling spending rose in August, but is 7.4% below last year
The Census Bureau's construction spending report of October 1 put private residential construction at an annual rate of $882.3 billion in August. NAHB's reading of the same report: spending on home improvements was up 2.5% from July — the biggest monthly gain of any residential category — but 7.4% lower than in August 2025. NAHB calls it "a 2026 soft patch for remodeling".
Why it matters: one good month does not make up for the year. Fewer homeowners are starting jobs than a year ago, and winter is the slow season anyway.
- Fill January and February now. Call the customers you worked for two and three years ago about the small jobs they have been putting off — repairs, a bath refresh, the room they did not do last time.
- Before you add a person or a truck, look at your own signed work for the next ninety days, not at the national number.
Where WorkTime CRM helps with this
Only where it does the thing itself:
- Sub paperwork: a sub who works with you through the sub portal uploads the W-9 and the insurance certificate (COI) on the job link, without creating a login. You find them on that sub's profile, marked as shared with you on a job.
- Before you invite a sub: the profile in the directory shows license and insurance with their "valid until" dates, crew size and when the sub is free.
- Short a person: the Work Time Hiring board takes a job post for free, with or without a CRM account.