As most of us have heard, Micron is building a new chip manufacturing plant along I-84 in the Southeast part of Boise. The whole project is slated to cost $15 bn (yes, billion). Construction is well underway as of February 2025. Micron’s new plant is creating 4,500 jobs during the construction phase (from now all through 2026) and an estimated 2,000 permanent jobs. Fact: Boise or the greater Treasure Valley does not have the 4,500 construction workers needed to build this plant. That means there are thousands of workers pouring into Boise, and all of them need a place to stay. This creates an unprecedented demand for furnished temporary housing in our area. Are Airbnbs the answer?

In this blog, we are going to explore whether it makes sense for construction crews to rent Airbnbs, as well as whether it makes sense for Airbnb hosts to rent to construction crews. The answer for both sides is, as you may guess, “it depends.” Let’s dig in:

You manage a construction crew and need furnished temporary housing for them:

Renting hotel rooms for 10 or 15 workers for several weeks or months is cost prohibitive. Renting furnished houses or apartments is possible, but not ideal – you will have to commit to a fixed timeframe at the time of signing the lease, and given the volatility construction schedules, you stand to lose a lot of money if you guess wrong as far as the duration of your project. Maybe your crew gets pulled for an unforeseen reason for a week or month to work elsewhere, but you are on the hook for the lease. Maybe your crew doubles in size, but only for a certain time during your project – you are tied to your current house, which may not be able to accommodate your new headcount. Now you have to rent an additional place or put these extra crew members up in a hotel.  Enter Airbnbs: They provide the flexibility you need, as well as the lowest expense possible. There are many to choose from. Here are some suggestions for your search criteria: 1) on the Airbnb platform, as well as on VRBO, you can filter your search results to show you SuperHosts and Premier Hosts only. We highly recommend doing this. It will ensure you see only well-managed and well-maintained properties by experienced hosts. It’s a built-in quality assurance, if you will. 2) Filter by houses that can accommodate the minimum number of crew members you will have, which is typically 8. If there is a chance you will need to increase headcount for some part of your project, filter by houses that meet that headcount. That way you won’t have to move houses or rent a second one. Moving houses means productivity loss for your worker crew as well as added stress. Just choose a big enough house from the get-go, and you’ll be in a better place. 3) Find a host that allows you to book directly. This means the host must be a professional host with several properties, not a mom-and-pop operator with one house. Professional hosts use property management software, which allows you to book through their website. This will save you 14% of the total booking cost right off the bat! 4) Find a host who is willing to work with you: Are they willing to soften up on their cancelation policy, thus allowing you to move a crew to another project and short notice with no or minimal loss of money? Are they offering weekly or bi-weekly cleaning, so your crew comes home to a clean house every night? Are they willing to swap out their white bedding and towels for a darker shade, thus saving your crew from embarrassment and feeling guilty? Are they willing to put in extra twin bed frames and maybe swap out some of the queen beds? 

We at Boise Vacation Rentals have noticed a drastic increase in demand for our houses by out-of-state workers and are currently renting two properties to concrete workers from Utah for three months, and they will be working here for the next two years and will likely extend their time with us. If you are ready to commit to renting our houses for the next 1-2 years (with the understanding you might have to pull your crew at times and there may be a few interruptions to renting), we will be removing the carpets and replacing them with high-end, high-wear laminate flooring at our cost.  You are also welcome to store your tools and equipment in the garage, free of charge. 

You own or manage an Airbnb and are wondering whether you should be renting to construction workers:

When you have an Airbnb that sleeps 8 or more guests, you want to ensure that your house not only can sleep 8 or more guests, but also seat them, feed them, and give them space to move about. That means: 1) Take a seat on your sofa in your Airbnb’s living room. Now imagine you had the maximum headcount allowed on your listing all there, here, in your house. They are all milling about the kitchen and the living room, because it’s time for breakfast or dinner. Can everyone move freely, or will people be bumping into each other because your personal knick-knacks are taking up valuable space? Remove any piece of furniture or décor that does not serve a purpose. Next: Does everyone have a place to sit? Guests understand there are no dining tables for 14, but they do want to sit down while eating. So, place some bar chairs at your kitchen counter, have a dining table that seats 8, and have a living room sectional that can seat a bunch of people. When I look at other houses for ‘large groups’, I see dining tables that seat 4, sofas for 3, and maybe an extra lounge chair or two. Think about headcount – if you post you can host 14, then make sure your space can accommodate 14. From experience I know that workers don’t have the money, time, or energy to eat out, and they very much need a place to cook, relax, and sit down. 2) Does your kitchen have the equipment to feed the maximum headcount on your listing? This is where you can rake up poor reviews in a heartbeat – guests hate not having enough coffee mugs, wine glasses, or deep serving dishes. 3) Do you have guardrails in place to reimburse you 100% for extra cleaning costs, unforeseen repairs, or items that have to be replaced? Workers, along with athletic teams, tend to be the most intense in terms of wear and tear on your property. It’s not a matter of IF something goes sideways, but WHEN. Given you are making money when your house is rented and zero when it’s not, I recommend you rent to construction workers (as well as sports teams, but that’s for another blog post). All you have to do is ensure you will get reimbursed for your losses, which, again, are 100% going to happen. We have been renting to construction workers for a few years now, and these are common items with this particular guest group: 1) You will want to offer weekly or bi-weekly cleaning services which the guest pays for. If not, don’t be surprised to find a disgusting house that hasn’t been cleaning the entire duration of the booking. Worker crews are tired at night, and not prone to cleaning after hours. Many of them work 7 days a week. So, it is your job to stay on top of the cleaning. They will pay you for it, and gladly. 2) You will want to have a security deposit on file. That way there is no discussion, argument or loss of money for you. You simply take photos of whatever is damaged, a photo of the repair or extra cleaning invoice, and send that to the guest for information. Then you deduct that amount from the deposit on file. I had one crew a year ago where literally all the towels had to be replaced, which was close to $300, and the crew manager apologized and was totally okay with us charging them for new towels. Of course, I had laid out all the stained towels on the floor so they could see the number of towels and the stains that hadn’t come out. 

We at Boise Vacation Rentals are now onboarding new hosts. For the first 5 years of our existence, we have managed only our own properties. Now, in February 2025, we are finally answering the call of many and will be hosting others’ houses. Our niche is hosting upscale houses for large groups. If your property sleeps 8 or more guests or has the potential (and physical space) to sleep 8 or more, we would be happy to speak with you. If your house is occupied by you or your family part of the year, we cannot work with you. We are looking for houses that are available year-round. Furthermore, we will need your green light on us bringing your house up to Boise Vacation Rentals’ standards of impeccable cleanliness, stylish décor, and clutter-free spaces optimized for large groups. Sometimes it takes money to make money – if you want us to manage your property, you may have to make some adjustments to your décor, furniture, or kitchen equipment. You may have to pay for a deep cleaning of your entire house, including blinds, fans, and light fixtures. You may have to do some maintenance on your air filters, AC unit, or fireplace. If your house is currently being managed by a professional host with great ratings, we can assume all of the foregoing has been addressed. However, if you’re still reading this, chances are, you’re in over your head or are dealing with one of the many fraudulent property managers who has managed your place into the ground with poor reviews and subsequently zero bookings. We are here to help! Learn more about our hosting / management services under the ‘management’ tab on our website.