Finding a contractor one year after California's wildfires

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report

Episode: Finding a contractor one year after California's wildfires
Date: January 6, 2026
Host: David Brancaccio
Main Guests: Dustin Kunkel (homeowner and solar panel business owner), Lauren Seidel Baker (economist, ITR Economics)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Marketplace Morning Report focuses primarily on the ongoing struggle California homeowners face in finding a contractor to rebuild after devastating wildfires. Host David Brancaccio shares stories from his own neighborhood in Altadena, CA, highlighting the shortage of qualified contractors, surging building costs, and the personal setbacks experienced by fire victims. Additional segments cover economic stratification in the U.S., the upcoming Davos Economic Forum, and the latest updates on U.S. stock markets.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of Rebuilding After Wildfire (00:01–03:52)

• Devastating Losses:
  • $27 billion in destroyed home value from wildfires in Southern California.
  • Of 12,000 homes destroyed, only 545 rebuilding projects are currently underway—underscoring the scale of the crisis.
• Dustin Kunkel’s Experience:
  • Kunkel, a father of two and solar professional, recounts renting out his home before the fires and now struggling to rebuild and move in with his family.
  • "Currently we live in a tiny little one bedroom with two girls, and they're growing too big for their little dinky room." (B, 01:07)
  • Sought to build a ~2,000 sq. ft., 3-bed/2-bath home with an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), finances permitting.
• Finding a Contractor:
  • Kunkel describes a grueling search, with one initial hopeful contact ultimately ghosting him.
    • "I kind of had one guy in mind, and I called him and he was excited, and then he stopped answering phone calls... I didn't necessarily feel all that comfortable going to somebody that wasn't returning my phone calls." (B, 01:48)
  • Ended up interviewing between 20 and 40 contractors, using video calls and referrals but often feeling uncomfortable with their bids or proposals.
    • "At some point, people that would give me their price per square foot, I just ended up telling them to go kick rocks and I don't want to talk to them anymore." (B, 02:54)
  • Ultimately, hired the Renewal Altadena group, citing the trust built during interviews and their ability to understand Kunkel’s design vision.
• Surging Costs and Scarcity:
  • Before the fires, average building costs were around $400 per square foot, now realistically “maybe $450,” according to Kunkel.
    • "I think maybe 450 I think is probably realistic." (B, 03:29)

2. Regional Update and Human Impact (03:52)

• Only a fraction of permits issued have translated into meaningful rebuilding starts.
• Reference to another couple in the neighborhood who have lost every house they’ve ever lived in—six homes in total—to fire, emphasizing the deep, long-term trauma and housing insecurity facing residents.
• Brancaccio points listeners to additional stories online.

3. National and Macro-Economic Context

• U.S. Markets Update (05:11):
  • Indices are up slightly in early trading; anticipation over unemployment and hiring figures highlighted.
• Disparities in Economic Recovery (05:11–06:49):
  • Interview with economist Lauren Seidel Baker on the divergent impact of economic trends across U.S. income strata.
    • "The upper income segments...more likely to have a job...enjoying these rising wage gains, rising stock prices...a little bit more insulated. It's that lower income segment that gets hit harder by things like inflation." (E, 05:38)
    • For lower earners, two thirds of budgets now go to food, housing, and health care versus less than 50% for the top 20%.
    • "Their discretionary spending is getting crowded out." (E, 06:11)
    • "In the past four years, we've seen an improvement [for higher earners]; their budget going to necessities is decreasing as a share of their total expenditures." (E, 06:11)

4. International Business: Davos Economic Forum Preview (06:51–07:26)

• Preview of the upcoming annual Davos Economic Forum.
• Notable tidbit: President Trump will attend, and his office will be in a small church, with companies like Microsoft, McKinsey, and Ripple reportedly spending up to $1 million each to sponsor event spaces.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the magnitude of loss:

  • "Some numbers are too big to comprehend. Here's one. $27 billion—an estimate of the value of all the houses destroyed in the Southern California wildfires one year ago."
    — David Brancaccio (A), 00:01

• On contractor search fatigue:

  • “I probably interviewed, I don't know, 20, 30, 40 contractors.”
    — Dustin Kunkel (B), 02:12

• On economic disparity:

  • "About two thirds of [low-income] budget is now being spent on just food, housing, and health care. Compare that to less than 50% of the top 20% of income earners."
    — Lauren Seidel Baker (E), 05:38

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:01–03:52 – Rebuilding after California wildfires: homeowner story and the contracting crunch.
• 03:52 – Update on Los Angeles County’s slow rebuilding progress; six-time fire survivors mentioned.
• 05:11–06:49 – Economic disparities; Lauren Seidel Baker segment.
• 06:51–07:26 – Preview of the Davos Economic Forum and major corporate sponsors.

---

Summary Takeaways

• Finding a contractor post-wildfire is not just expensive—it is exhausting, competitive, and uncertain, with many homeowners interviewing dozens without success.
• Rebuilding is moving slowly: only a small fraction of those affected have active projects, and the human toll is deep.
• Economic recovery is highly unequal—lower-income households are bearing the brunt of inflation and budgeting pressure, even as some segments prosper.
• Broad economic and political stories, from Wall Street to Davos, are shaping the landscape in ways that filter down to homeowners and workers alike.

The episode offers a poignant, ground-level look at the aftershocks of disaster and the structural economic divides shaping Americans’ ability to recover.

Transcript

[A]

Very much a marketplace story. What it takes to find a building contractor one year after the California wildfires. I'm David Brancaccio in Pasadena, California. Some numbers are too big to comprehend. Here's one. $27 billion. An estimate of the value of all the houses destroyed in the Southern California wildfires one year ago. Here's a much smaller but also confounding number. 3:30. That's the number of general contractors one of my neighbors had to talk to to find someone to rebuild the house he owned two up from where I lost my house in Altadena. Father of two Dustin Kunkel is in the solar panel business. Here's some of our chat. Essentially over the side fence.

[B]

So we. We bought our house back in 2018, and we've been renting it out, kind of planning to move up into it, and. And our renters, they lost out on a probate house the summer before the fires, and so we let them stay in there. And I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky.

[A]

So what's the plan?

[B]

We're gonna move into it once we finish it, but currently we live in a tiny little one bedroom with two girls, and they're growing too big for their little dinky room. We're just staking it out a little bit. That's gonna be a couple thousand square foot house and three beds, two baths. And we'll have a back house, adu. Assuming the finances work out.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, you're talking to a guy who's right in the middle of that. I don't know. Right. That's the big problem. So someone has to build this for you. You have one guy, went to him, gave you a good price, and then it's all done and he's going. Is that how it worked?

[B]

I wish it was that easy. I kind of had one guy in mind, and I called him and he was excited, and then he stopped answering phone calls. You know, about a month or a month and a half in. And I just, at that point, I didn't necessarily feel all that comfortable going to somebody that wasn't returning my phone calls, and so don't blame me.

[A]

So where'd you go next?

[B]

Yeah, I probably interviewed, I don't know, 20, 30, 40 contractors.

[A]

You interviewed more than two dozen possible contractors? I mean, like, did you go meet them or you exchanged.

[C]

I did.

[B]

I did video interviewing. I talked with other people and kind of got some referrals, and I just, I think, didn't end up feeling either comfortable working with them. Or just didn't feel like their price range was anywhere close to what I feel like the rates should be.

[A]

Did you actually get any formal bids from this giant cluster of possible contractors?

[B]

I got a bunch. I mean, at some point, people that would give me their price per square foot. I just ended up telling them to go kick rocks and I don't want to talk to them anymore. We ended up going with the renewal Altadena group and felt like during the interviews they were mind reading some of the design elements we were wanting and so kind of built some trust with their expertise.

[A]

Every expert tells me that before the fire was about $400 a square foot to build in Southern California. Now we're not going to get that. Now can we get anything close to that? Is that still pie in the sky, something at that price level?

[B]

I've seen a few bids around that price and I think there's a couple good people out there doing it around that. But I don't know that you're at 400 bucks, but I think maybe 450 I think is probably realistic.

[A]

All right. Well, I'm not going to hold you to it, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. Dustin Kunkel, thank you very much.

[B]

Good to see you again, Dave.

[A]

The difficulty of finding the right builder is just one of the reasons Los Angeles county is showing today that one year later actual rebuilding is in Progress on just 545 residential projects on 1200 permits now issued in a region where 12,000 houses were destroyed in the fires today. We also talked to two other neighbors, a husband and wife who lost to the fires every one of the houses they've ever lived in over their long lives in this area. Six houses burned in total. If you missed that on the air, Marketplace Online will have all of my stories. Foreign.

[D]

The new year brings new health goals and wealth goals. Protecting your identity is an important step. Your info is in endless places that could expose you to identity theft leading to lost funds. LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Resolve to make identity, health and wealth part of your New Year's goals. With LifeLock, save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com Specialoffer terms apply.

[A]

The Dow's up 81 points now, 2.10% S&P also up 2.10%. The NASDAQ up 3.10% in early trading on Friday. We'll get the unemployment and hiring numbers for December. It's arguably the most important reading on the economy. But aggregate numbers hide the fact that it's not just one economy, it's economies, plural. I spoke this morning to economist Lauren Seidel Baker from the New Hampshire based consultancy ITR Economics.

[E]

The upper income segments, those are the ones more likely to have a job or more likely to be enjoying these rising wage gains, rising stock prices and other asset prices. They're a little bit more insulated. It's that lower income segment that gets hit harder by things like inflation. We're seeing more and more of their spending going to necessities. In fact, about two thirds of their budget is now being spent on just food, housing, and health care. Compare that to less than 50% of the top 20% of income earners.

[A]

And you've been actually tracking this, Right? It's something of concern and interest to you?

[C]

It is.

[E]

If we look at just that metric, how much of your budget you're spending on food, housing and healthcare. We've seen the lower kind of two thirds of the income earners start to see more and more of their income squeezed. Their discretionary spending is getting crowded out. Now. Compare that to the top 40%. And actually in the past four years, we've seen an improvement there. They're earning more in real, real terms that their budget going to necessities is decreasing as a share of their total expenditures.

[A]

All right, Lauren Seidel Baker with the New Hampshire based consultancy ITR Economics. Thank you so much.

[E]

Thank you.

[A]

And speaking of the upper echelon, the big gathering of business and political leaders starts in Switzerland later this month. It's the annual economic forum at the Davos ski resort. President Trump is coming, and the office for the Trump team will be a small church. To get that ready, the Financial Times is reporting that companies are donating up to a million dollars each. Firms reportedly include Microsoft, the McKinsey consultancy, and the crypto firm Ripple. In Pasadena, California, I'm David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning report from APM American Public Media.

[C]

Hey, everyone. You already listened to Marketplace podcasts, so you know that it's important to understand how economic forces shape our lives. And that feels especially important now as we're all trying to make sense of the latest headlines. I'm Marina Reis, host of Marketplaces. This is Uncomfortable, a show that explores how money bumps up against our relationships, our choices, and the parts of life we don't always say aloud. And starting January 15th, we are back every single week. New stories, new questions, and the kind of conversations that make you feel less alone in this quickly changing economy. We're tackling questions like should I turn my hobby into a money making side hustle? How do I deal with layoff anxiety? Or what do we owe our parents financially? Don't miss an episode. Subscribe to this is Uncomfortable from Marketplace. Wherever you get your podcasts.