One Year Later: Fast Food Can Make VAR's Day in New Orleans

When it takes eight months to move back into your house -- and you're one of the lucky ones -- it doesn't take much to make you happy, according to Mont Echols, senior vice president of solutions at Louisiana Technology Group, a New Orleans-solution provider, on the eve of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Some days, when the city's recovery feels like it couldn't go any slower, the biggest news is when a Burger King reopens near the office.

"That was real exciting. It was the first fast food place to open for three to five miles from here," Echols said. Then there's the co-worker who moved back to the heavily- amaged New Orleans East neighborhood and has to drive more than 10 miles to a grocery store.

Such is the case for New Orleans residents, who continue to pick up the pieces of their lives. When CRN visited Echols in February, he had just started renovating his large house located in a nice neighborhood near the 17th Street Canal. It had taken months to begin renovations because the neighborhood had no power. Echols and his family moved back into the house in April and he's a few weeks away from putting a second house on the market that he purchased after Katrina.

"We're still doing little finishing work, we're waiting to finish our bathroom. We have to put in the vent hood above the range, the side lights for the front door. But it's certainly livable," Echols said.

He is in the minority. Few neighbors have returned to Echols' neighborhood. He estimates about 50 of the 400 houses in his neighborhood association are inhabited, with only about a dozen houses as renovated as his house.

"About another 50 are under construction. There are about 24 more that haven't even been gutted. They've been left the same way as after Katrina," he said.

Early in the rebuilding process, Echols told CRN that resources were so scarce that contractors had to take nails home with them at the end of the work day or they'd be stolen overnight. The availability of materials has improved in the last several months, but finding good workmanship still is a major problem, he said.

"Because of the demand, you've got a lot of new people doing the jobs. If you're not careful you'll get someone who it's only his first, second or third job laying tile," Echols said. "The old Better Business Bureau practice of getting three estimates is all well and good, but finding three contractors to even return your call is a lot, particularly for a licensed trade like an electrician. They've got 50 jobs lined up behind yours, so they don't do the final 10 percent."

In his business, Louisiana Technology Group now relies heavily on doing federal contract work. State and local government is also strong, but commercial accounts, particularly those in New Orleans, have dwindled dramatically post-Katrina, Echols said.

"I am seeing cases where state and local don't even look at the bottom line. If they've got money, they will spend it. Then they'll go look for more money," Echols said.

NEXT: What to do with all those emergency servers?