A home equipped with a security system stands an excellent chance of keeping burglars at bay.
A home under construction all but invites thieves inside.
Construction-site thefts cost builders $1 billion a year and inflate a home’s price tag by 1.5 percent, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
But builders aren’t defenseless against potential thefts.
They’re using a combination of methods, such as installing fencing around sites, buying alarms for construction containers and hiring security personnel to keep tabs on their materials.
Some tried-and-true methods, such as simple alarm systems and floodlighting, keep some crooks at bay. Cheaper video-surveillance equipment and new tracking devices prevent thefts and can help police nab thieves.
“We’re seeing more and more contractors are taking proactive steps to secure their construction sites,” says Aurora Police Department spokesman Bob Friel.
Jim Audiss, president of Eagle Custom Builders in Lakewood, says loose lumber, appliances and copper remain the most likely materials to disappear from these sites.
“We’ve had people come in and take all the (copper) pipe out of a house,” Audiss says.
One way Audiss prevents on-site thefts is the use of surveillance cameras. His company began using webcams a couple of years ago, and theft has grown scarce since then.
“You put eyes on them and they tend to stay away,” he says.
Roger Reinhardt, executive vice president with the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver, says there’s little pattern to site thefts.
“When economic times are bad, I don’t think it increases,” Reinhardt says, adding developers often project theft losses when preparing their budgets.
Theft always an issue for builders
Construction-site theft is always an issue for builders, says Bill Pugh, the director of marketing and sales for Towson, Md.-based DeWalt, which makes a site-theft deterrent called MobileLock.
Roughly the size of a deck of cards, MobileLock can be attached to a pricey appliance and other on-site materials.
The device uses Global Positioning System technology, which allows the owner to track via the Internet where the materials end up.
“Some people say, ‘I know it’s going to get stolen. I want it back,’ ” Pugh said.
MobileLocks can also act as a traditional alarm, sounding a siren if disturbed.
“Every contractor has a story about thefts,” Pugh says.
The recent rush to install high-end materials in new homes, such as granite countertops, only emboldens criminals, Pugh says.
“The same people coming back”
Bill Dunston is a home developer whose company, Walden Corp., works in northern El Paso County. Dunston says site thefts routinely plague area contractors.
“In the past two to five years it’s really picked up,” Dunston says, citing the disappearances of appliances, doors and windows from his sites and others.
“We felt it was the same people coming back all the time,” he says.
Since some of his homes are built in rural areas, he can’t count on local law enforcement.
“Sheriffs have a big job. They can’t be everywhere,” he says.
So his company picked up a half-dozen MobileLocks and embedded them in tools and appliances.
“Within a week, they took the bait,” he says. “For the next six months, every other week we were getting a hit.”
Then, about six months later, the thefts stopped.
“The word got out,” he says. “People realized it’s not a soft target anymore.”
Dunston doesn’t rely solely on MobileLocks.
He installs motion sensors at his sites and makes sure homes get security alarms installed as quickly as possible.
He doesn’t expect site theft to go away.
“It has to be an ongoing process to keep the sites free from theft,” he says.
Dunston isn’t the only builder fighting back. Police departments are seeing an impact in these multiple security measures.
Making sites less of an easy target
According to Friel, burglaries in Aurora dropped 6.2 percent from 2006 to 2007.
And copper thefts are occurring an average of once or twice a month, and those cases don’t necessarily involve construction sites.
Recently passed legislation increasing the penalties for those caught stealing copper made an impact, he says.
So, too, has improved communication between police and metal recyclers, who often receive materials swiped from construction sites.
Friel says construction thieves often work in groups. But one element of their behavior remains constant. They all love an easy target.
“Our goal is to make it difficult for them at every step,” he says.
