Chapter 228: Revitalized Market

Old Griffin, who had been in Douglas for a week, recently found his favorite activity to be sitting quietly at the entrance of the southern suburbs of Douglas, with a small stool and a sun hat.

Every pickup truck passing by with families and belongings seemed like a golden nugget sprinting across the scorching earth!

And indeed, these people were golden nuggets!

The people of Douglas, who had been strongly opposed to outsiders entering, especially the merchants, suddenly found that the goods that had been difficult to sell were now selling like hotcakes.

Aside from Chris's managed restaurant, where burrito sales doubled, other businesses also felt the spending power of these new faces. In the sweltering summer days, after filling their stomachs, wouldn't they want a $0.99 bottle of cola?

Although most of the sales were for the $5 four-bottle pack, the cash income was substantial!

Before buying a house, those who had just mortgaged their existing homes found themselves with plenty of cash in hand, bursting with spending power!

The people of Douglas, who were accustomed to living frugally, had never seen anything like this before!

Watching them scatter money everywhere, buying food and drinks generously, almost made the people of Douglas feel as if they were living in the poorest part of Georgia, not the utopia they had imagined.

The money spent in restaurants and supermarkets, as well as on land purchases, flowed back into the hands of the people of Douglas. Many were surprised to find that the market seemed different now; not only were outsiders spending freely, but the locals also seemed more generous.

Restaurants they had never dared to enter before, they dared to enter now! Snacks they had never dared to buy before, they dared to buy now! And once the money started circulating, the entire market seemed to come alive again, like the arrival of spring.

However, as the market regained its vitality, Carter almost collapsed from exhaustion!

"Thank you, Mayor Benjamin! I love you!"

"Hahaha, you're welcome, you're welcome! Hurry up and get ready. The new houses will be ready soon. Mr. Blake's DOG Building Works has already started purchasing materials, and our East Wind Express delivery vehicles have also set off. When they come back in two days, construction on the new houses can begin! Oh, don't forget to go to Blake Bank to sign the contract tomorrow!"

As Benjamin, who was beside him, laughed and chatted, Carter quickly grabbed the sleeve of the person next to him.

"Uncle Rob, why did you drag me here?! Aren't the temporary houses already built? Let them move in first. I can't help here!"

"Nonsense! What do you mean, 'already built'? How many have been built? They're still building over there! We're here to supervise. This is the grandest event in Douglas in the past ten years, no, thirty years! When else have we had such a grand occasion? Besides when the city was built thirty years ago, when else?"

While answering Carter's question, Benjamin's eyes were still fixed on the people constantly pouring into the settlement area. As soon as these people entered the settlement area, municipal officials with red armbands immediately greeted them.

After registration, each newcomer was handed a set of instructions for building the board houses, along with a number plate. The newcomers only needed to find the materials they needed according to the number plate, then carry the boards and build the houses themselves.

Free temporary housing, guaranteed jobs, coupled with the friendly expressions of those with red armbands, made everyone entering the settlement area wear a brilliant smile on their faces.

Although it was tiring to carry boards and build houses, and many people were covered in dust from the dusty ground in no time, the bright smiles on their faces spoke volumes to Benjamin and Carter, conveying a sense of hope!

However, as good as hope was and as fulfilling as it seemed, behind the instantaneous prosperity lay Carter's genuine worries.

By the final deadline of June 1st, Douglas conservatively estimated an additional population of over 5,000, which meant over a thousand families; and Pearson, which was already more prosperous than Douglas, was even more terrifying, with an additional population of at least 7,000!

An increase of ten to twenty-three thousand people meant the need for over two to three thousand more jobs. With the high demand for housing, Pearson's timber mills were revitalized—not, they were revitalized, providing jobs for over three hundred people, which wasn't difficult.

And the additional population was enough to form a whole new community, promoting the construction of more community-based businesses such as restaurants and supermarkets. Individual businesses had to meet the needs of over ten to twenty-three thousand people, which could consume a considerable portion of the population. Then there were community managers, new community police officers, and so on, which would also consume a portion of the municipal workforce.

Out of the three thousand jobs, the actual number to consider was probably only two thousand five hundred. But even so, Carter still felt a bit overwhelmed.

Because these people were different from the Pearson residents who were about to be dispatched to the big cities to make money; their work was currently focused on the local area. For the local economy...

Carter did some calculations. Three thousand households meant a demand for three thousand houses. Such a huge demand for building materials was something that the Griffin company alone could not afford to bear. It was necessary to bring in more building material companies to supply the materials.

Apart from timber, joint purchases by the Forest Bank and the Pearson City Government to suppress purchase prices, the other materials needed, such as steel and stone, with more companies joining the competition, might even lower the purchase price compared to Pearson.

And indeed, that was the case. The huge demand for building materials in Douglas-Pearson, like a huge pile of dog feces, attracted countless flies to savor.

Atlanta's construction companies came, as did neighboring Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and even as far as Pennsylvania, sending business representatives hoping to secure this order.

Carter rejected all construction companies outright. Joking, right?

Using their workers, how would they solve the local employment problem? But as for building material companies, that was something they could discuss.

As they discussed, Old Griffin's eyes suddenly turned red.

Thinking about the purchase prices he had once paid, and comparing them with the prices Carter had negotiated. Old Griffin felt like crying and laughing at the same time, expressing understanding—after all, who made his market so huge?

Controlling the greatest demand, in these bleak times, he, Carter, was the boss, no, the ancestor! The ancestor of almost all building material companies!

Three thousand houses, even if sold at $35,000 each, would amount to a total of $105 million. Even if Carter deducted $2,000 from each house for himself, no, let's say $3,000 for profit and labor costs.

The actual material procurement expenditure for one house, including equipment purchases, would be $32,000. Three thousand houses would be $96 million! And within this, the engineering equipment that could be recycled and the equipment purchases wouldn't cost much. So out of the $96 million total procurement amount, at least, at least $90 million would be spent on building materials.

A procurement order of $900,000 would have been enough to wake him up from his dream, let alone $90 million.

If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes over the past dozen days, old Griffin would have hung up the phone immediately upon hearing someone say he was going to purchase $90 million worth of building materials. Even boasting has to abide by basic principles, you know!