Continued declines in construction activity for the first half of 2001 have some builders wondering if the worst is yet to come.
"I don't think the big ball has dropped yet!" said Tom Giglio as his construction crew raised the walls on a new $200,000-plus home in South Boston's Brentwood subdivision.
Giglio, a 27-year building veteran, admits that he's managed to find enough work to keep his crew busy up until now. But he's concerned that the "building pipeline" may be running low and it's just a matter of time until it, essentially, dries up.
Giglio pointed to the recent industrial and business closings and cutbacks that have taken place in the community, he is worried that more will follow.
The building boom that the community had been enjoying for much of the past decade began to slow down in 1999. In 1998, the county and towns issued construction permits having a total value of $69.5 million.
By 1999, that figure dropped to $46.5 million and in 2000, the total fell to $45.7 million.
Even when the national economy turns the corner and begins to recover, Giglio believes Southside Virginia's struggles will be far from over.
"It's a unique problem," said Giglio, whose cautious pessimism may well be documented in the 62.3 percent decline in building permit values in South Boston for the first half of 2001.
From January through June, South Boston issued permits totaling $1,472,244 compared to $3,912,377 for the same period in 2000. That total consists of four new conventional homes ranging in value from $40,000 to $202,450, one modular home for $44,600 and one commercial building for $444,000 (Goodwill Industries at 4125 Halifax Road).
The balance of building activity is composed of additions and renovations to existing structures, including $533,000 to Halifax Regional Hospital and $431,425 to Dr. Mark Morris (521 Webster Street).
In the county, a less dramatic 2.1 percent decline in total construction compared to the same period a year ago is somewhat encouraging.
Permits for 40 new homes, five more than during the same period in 2000, having a total value of $4,070,100 represents a 19.4 percent increase.
Manufactured homes, however, took a 44.9 percent dive with 112 permits (28 less than 2000) having a total value of $3,531,101. Remodeling and repairs declined 44.9 percent to $966,213.
One industrial project was permitted for $580,000.
In the Town of Halifax, two new homes having a total estimated value of $600,000 were permitted in the Treybrook subdivision.
By 1999, that figure dropped to $46.5 million and in 2000, the total fell to $45.7 million.

Halifax County's unemployment rate continued to spiral upward in June, according to Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) statistics released yesterday.
June's unemployment rate of 9.1 percent was almost a full percentage point ahead of May's 8.2 rate.
According to the VEC, 1,672 county workers were unemployed in June, compared to 1,481 in May.
Last year's June unemployment rate was 7.9 percent.
A possible reason for the increase locally may be the infusion of students looking for summer work and the continuing decline in textile-related employment.
Danville and Pittsylvania County also experienced jumps in their unemployment rates in June.
Danville's rate jumped from 9.3 percent in May to 11.8 percent in June, while Pittsylvania County's rate jumped to 8.2 after a May rate of 7.6 percent.
The City of Martinsville, in addition to Henry, Charlotte and Mecklenburg counties saw their unemployment rates drop in June.
Martinsville's unemployment rate dropped to 8.2 percent after a May figure of 10 percent, while Henry County saw its unemployment rate drop to 6.7 percent in June after May's 7.4 rate.
Charlotte County's rate dropped from 3.4 percent in May to 3.3 in June, while the unemployment rate in Mecklenburg County dropped a full percentage point, from 8.0 percent in May to 7.0 percent in June.
Virginia as a whole saw a small increase in unemployment in June, from May's 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent, according to the VEC.
Statewide, the number of unemployed workers rose from 107,810 to 118,095.
In June 2000, Virginia's unemployment rate stood at 2.6 percent.

 A 24-year-old Halifax man indicted by a circuit court grand jury on multiple charges stemming from a June 24 drive-by shooting on College Street was arrested Monday.
Sheriff's deputies arrested Deric L. Crowder in connection with the shootings of 17-year-old Kelvin Dewayne Cameron and 18-year-old Quincy Eugene Moore of North Main Street.
Crowder was indicted on two felony assault charges, two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony and one charge of being a passenger in a motor vehicle while intentionally discharging a firearm.
Cameron and Moore were among as many as eight people police said were standing on the front porch of a house owned by Edith Jones at 1305 College Street when a series of shots rang out.
Witnesses told police the shots were fired from an older model blue Chevrolet that passed by the house.
The two teenagers were the only ones in the crowd that were struck.
Eight shells were recovered, police said.
A trial date for Crowder has not been set.
In another matter:
The Halifax County Sheriff's Department is seeking the public's help in solving a break-in and theft that occurred at Clays Mill Elementary School over the weekend.
A television set and several VCRs were stolen from the school, Sheriff's Department Capt. L.W. Fears said.
Entrance to the school was gained by breaking out a window.
Fears is requesting that anyone having information about the crime call Crime Stoppers at 476-8477 or contact the sheriff's department at 476-3334.
· Nineteen-year-old Joshua N. Cole of Chatham Road in Halifax was arrested by sheriff's deputies on charges of issuing bad checks.
Cole was charged with six counts of uttering checks totalling over $1,600 from January 17 to January 29.
The checks were drawn on Wachovia Bank and made payable to Brandon Pitt, Kevin Denson and Amy Atkinson.

By Doug Ford
Local YMCA executive director Bill Harris has accepted a new challenge.
Harris, executive director of the South Boston-Halifax County YMCA since the summer of 1998, will take over a comglomerate of five Armed Services YMCAs in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area on September 17.
The former Air Force pilot and budding author will be sorely missed, according to those who worked with him.
"We're going to really miss him," said Mark Thackston, President of the local YMCA Board of Directors.
Thackston said the one word that could be used to describe Harris is "motivator."
"He's absolutely a motivator. He's been energetic, aggressive and his efforts have definitely improved the Y as an asset to the whole community."
Thackston added that the executive committee of the YMCA was scheduled to meet yesterday with Barry Watkins of the National YMCA to start the process of finding a replacement for Harris.
Harris came across his new challenge in a roundabout way.
"It's an Armed Services YMCA out of Hampton Roads - I didn't even know there was such a thing," explained Harris, who said the job was listed out of Springfield over the Internet.
"It was a YMCA directed mostly at young families and young, single military people in a certain area to provide child care, exercise programs, counseling and help for families left behind when military men and women go overseas.
"Operation Desert Storm was a perfect example."
According to Harris, the conglomerate includes child care facilities in the Norfolk and Portsmouth areas, as well as a community center type near Virginia Beach.
There is also a YMCA facility at the airport to assist incoming families, providing both Internet and computer services, continued Harris.
Harris and his wife, Amy, arrived in South Boston in November of 1995. He worked for Bret Berneche at Cardinal Homes before taking a position with the YMCA.
"We came here because she wanted to take care of her parents," said Harris, who said he was very fortunate in his job that his father-in-law's (the late Huell Matthews) long-standing involvement with the community gave him some credibility in opening a lot of doors.
His wife's career with American Airlines is the primary reason for Harris' decision to accept his new position in the Tidewater area, near Norfolk Airport.
"Amy is my first priority - this will simplify her life greatly," said Harris, who said commute time will be drastically reduced.
"I take a lot of pride in what we've been able to do in getting the staff, board members and YMCA members to take ownership in what the Y's trying to do," said Harris.
Harris said that the local YMCA is succeeding in what each individual facility should do - tailoring its programs to meet the needs of the area it serves.
"That's why each YMCA is different. We try to look beyond the basic commitment to fitness outward to the community and see what it needs," Harris observed.
"The distance we've come is due to the fact that everyone is understanding what the YMCA is all about.
"The Board and the staff have been focused on that and we're trying to get the members to understand that membership in the YMCA is like membership in a community - with the benefits come responsibility.
"That's our mission," said Harris, indicating that it takes the efforts of the board, his staff and YMCA members to make suggestions for programs to help the community."
During Harris' tenure, the local YMCA has responded to the needs of the community by helping to sponsor the After Prom Party, and for the first time this past season, raising money for girls softball board.
"That's where our board comes in," said Harris, mentioning that board vice-president Carroll Thackston suggested that the county girls softball program sometimes needed another place to play.
"We had over 400 girls on different teams play here last summer," he added with obvious pride.
Harris also mentioned, among others, the generosity of Bret Berneche and the Leggett family in the YMCA campus' newest additions, the YMCA Cardinal Community Center and the Leggett Wellness Center.
Harris said he wants the local YMCA to continue its sponsorship of both the party and softball programs, but to continue with plans for youth swim and literacy outreach programs.
"We're working closely with the school system to put together a swim program for elementary or middle school children," said Harris.
"We're also working with social services in our area to have additional reading programs instituted."
As an example of what local YMCAs can do to reach out to individual communities, Harris recalled what he learned about a Armed Services YMCA event in the beach area.
"Every Christmas, TWA Airlines donates a plane, fuel and services for the plane's crew to fly 50-60 at-risk kids from age 3 to 5 from military and other families in the community twice around the airfield," recalled Harris.
"The plane lands and taxis to the other end of the field, where it's set up like the North Pole. That's where the kids get off.
"Can you imagine anything neater than that for a kid?"
Harris made it clear to his new employers that he is not one to simply observe the status quo.
"I told them if you're looking for a caretaker, if everything is running smoothly, I'm not your person," Harris said.
"I'd be turned off by that. I told them that I'd need for you to have some challenges for me."
Challenges that he, along with his staff, the YMCA Board and the Halifax County community have met with great success the past few years.

It wasn't all that many years ago that C.H. Friend Field was seen as one of the top baseball fields in the area for Dixie Pre-Majors and Dixie Majors action.
However, that image changed during the course of the mid-to-late 1990's.
Heavy use combined with little extra care and maintenance left the field and its facilities in a deteriorating condition.
"No money was spent on the field in years but it was continuously used by the program," said David Myers who heads the South Boston Dixie Majors and Pre-Majors programs.
Thanks to Myers and a group of volunteers including Bill Moore, Brian Greene and Mike King, C.H. Friend Field has undergone an almost amazing transformation over the past two years.
With money from their own pockets, some from league coffers, and a number of donations of materials and products from various sources in the community including the school system and the Town of South Boston, C.H. Friend Field is again standing tall.
"In two years, this field has gone from an abandoned, overgrown field to what you see today," Myers said.
"The outfield fence was dilapidated and everything here was in need of work. Basically, this field has been totally renovated in two years."
C.H. Friend Field has been adopted as the home field for the South Boston Dixie Pre-Majors and Dixie Majors programs which have broken away from under the umbrella of Dixie, Inc.
It also served as the home field last fall for the Old Timers Baseball League for players ages 40 and over.
Myers and volunteers working with the two Dixie leagues took on the arduous task of renovating the field and have accomplished much with a lot of man-hours, legwork and elbow grease.
The infield and outfield grass areas are thicker, greener and well manicured, 65 tons of dirt were spread over the infield and a nice row of small gravel has been set down in the areas leading from the dugouts to the on-deck batting circles.
Many sections of the outfield fence have been replaced and or repaired and a sprinkler system has been set up.
Restroom facilities have been cleaned and put into good working condition.
The press box has been totally renovated and a room containing a small refrigerator has been built to serve as a changing room for umpires they may change clothes and get a refreshing drink of water or a soft drink between games.
A new PA sound system has been installed and the scoreboard has been worked on and given new paint.
Both of the two dugouts have been refurbished and work has also been done on the concession stand.
A 14-foot-by-14-foot equipment storage shed recently constructed by students in Danville Community College's General maintenance Technician Program III has also been added to the field facilities.
The field facilities have also received a fresh coat of paint thanks to the school system which provided a the paint for that project.
Amazingly, all of the work that has been done on the field has cost only an estimated $4,500.
"The last two years combined we have spent somewhere between $4,000 and $4,500 Myers said.
"At the beginning of the year, I threw in another $1,200 to get us started on the press box. We ended up 75 cents in the hole when we finished."
Moore said the press box was in very bad shape.
"It wasn't something that you'd want to pull up a chair and sit in the middle of," Moore said.
"There wasn't anything up there except some torn up plywood. We went in there are fixed it like it should be, refurbished the desk area, the floor, put in air conditioning and built a room for the umpires with air conditioning."
"Mike King and Brian Greene were very instrumental in helping us do the carpentry work and providing us with the things we needed to get this job done with," added Myers.
Myers said C.H. Friend Elementary School Principal Linda Owen has been very supportive of the league's efforts in refurbishing the field.
"She has been wonderful to work with," Myers said.
"Improving the facility helps us and it helps the school too. It helps give the kids that attend the school some nice field area to play in and have for use for Field Day.
"We also thank the School Board," added Myers.
"They have provided us some paint and we appreciate it. They provided the paint and we provided the manpower. It was way of helping us and helping themselves too."
While refurbishing C.H. Friend Field is good for the two local baseball leagues, it has also benefitted the high school baseball program.
Halifax County High School's jayvee baseball team used C.H. Friend Field for practices and played a few games there this spring.
"This helps give the high school jayvee team a place where they can practice and play some games," Moore pointed out.
"Coaches from other high schools that our jayvee team played here at C.H. Friend Field this spring said they wish they had something as nice as this to play their home games on."
The Old Timers League also plans to use the facility again when its season begins a few weeks from now.
The condition of the refurbished C.H. Friend Field drew praise from the state directors that were here for the recent state tournaments.
"They were all very complimentary of what has been done here," Myers said.
"Some of them that were here the last time a tournament was played at C.H. Friend could hardly believe how much improvement there had been. The state officials liked what they saw enough to where they want us to bid for the 2003 Pre-Majors and Majors World Series."
While C.H. Friend Field has come a long way, there is still a ways to go.
"We still have a list of things to do," Moore pointed out.
"We want to see about completely resodding the infield and work on getting water to the edges of the field. We also have some work we need to do on the concession stands."
Myers said the bottom line on the refurbishing of C.H. Friend Field is the kids.
"This is for the kids," Myers said.
"They're the ones we're doing this for. We want them to have a good place, a good facility where they can play ball and enjoy themselves.
"It takes a lot of people, a lot of help to make it happen," added Myers.
"We've had a lot of people who have come out and helped us and had a lot of people who have donated items to us. We thank all of the people for everything that has been done."