Unfortunately, it seems the skilled labor shortage is here to stay. In fact, Associated Builders and Contractors predicts that in 2026 the construction industry will need another half million workers to meet demand. The implications of the labor shortage, especially for skilled labor, put significant pressure on contractors and present real ramifications for what jobs they can take on and how quickly they can complete them.
While you may not be able to change the problem, you can find creative ways to mitigate its impact on your business. Here are five tips to help increase job efficiency and survive the skilled labor shortage.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality solutions are being tapped to manage and monitor some projects remotely. This can save time by reducing the need to physically travel to the job site. These solutions can be especially helpful if the job site is spread out or in a remote location, or if the contractor needs to manage multiple sites at once. Additionally, many of these solutions can create a digital twin that allows project managers to view and manipulate the job site in real- or near real-time.
AI can also help mitigate the impact of labor challenges. When integrated into project management platforms, it can manage or optimize many back-office tasks, such as project planning, scheduling, or document management. It can also be beneficial for job site locations with potential safety or environmental hazards. In these cases, AI technologies can monitor for hazards and alert workers before an incident occurs.
Maximizing labor efficiency means ensuring that highly skilled workers are not spending time sorting and transporting materials or performing mundane assembly tasks. Each moment of their time should be spent on their area of expertise to ensure projects finish on time.
| Your local Stewart-Amos dealer |
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| Closner Equipment Co Inc |
Using prefabricated solutions helps tremendously with this, as it delivers multiple products or materials preassembled in one shipment. Prefabricated solutions enable contractors or their distribution partners to use lower-skilled labor offsite for repetitive tasks like unpacking and assembling components. These preassembled items are then transported to the job site for simple installation.
This strategy reduces operating costs and frees up bandwidth for skilled workers, empowering them to focus on more complex tasks. Prefabricated solutions often work best for large projects with repetitive elements.
Click-to-ship solutions are another option to improve efficiency by minimizing time spent on back-end tasks. As the name implies, these solutions replicate the familiar consumer e-commerce experience for ordering materials. Contractors simply navigate to their partner’s website, select the product or material they want to order, and it’s quickly delivered to the job site — eliminating the need for time-consuming paperwork and procurement processes.
Click-to-ship solutions are most helpful when dealing with smaller, frequently ordered items, or when a project requires quick turnaround for specific materials or damaged/replacement parts.
| Your local Liebherr Construction Eq dealer |
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| Nueces Power Equipment |
Another hallmark of job efficiency is having the materials you need when you need them. There’s nothing worse than having skilled laborers onsite and ready to work, but the materials are not there on time. Conversely, paying for materials to sit in a facility untouched for months can complicate a contractor's balance sheet.
Vendor-managed inventory solutions that facilitate just-in-time material management ensure that materials and production schedules move in lockstep. Providers may also offer automated inventory control solutions like RFID and smart shelves or drawers to calculate inventory without manual counting and sorting. This avoids costly downtime and maintains optimal inventory, while also streamlining and optimizing procurement — all of which support job efficiency efforts.
Depending on the project, cable and wiring can eat up a tremendous amount of time. Data centers, for example, can require hundreds — or even thousands — of miles of cable. Pulling, cutting, and installing that takes time, and often requires multiple workers. Thankfully, several wire and cable solutions are available to save time and help boost labor productivity.
Some solutions precut cable to specific lengths offsite, eliminating the need for workers to spend time cutting and measuring. As an added benefit, these options help reduce waste and scrap.
| Your local ASV dealer |
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| CLM Equipment Co |
Other solutions preload multiple cable legs onto a single, multi-chambered reel, complete with preinstalled pulling eyes. This approach significantly reduces setup time and material waste, while also eliminating the need for specialized labor. Some cabling reels even fit through standard doorways. If your job includes gut renovations, this solution can be a significant timesaver, since workers won’t need to take down doorways to move reels in and out.
These solutions also free up workers to focus on other tasks. Instead of needing five people to roll a reel, for example, specialized reels reduce this job to a single worker.
Project deployment services can also save time and enhance job site efficiency. Job trailers and mobile storage solutions, for example, can help streamline inventory management and organization. As an added benefit, mobile solutions can be easily redeployed to different areas of the job site — or different sites entirely — whenever needed.
While the solutions outlined above can help contractors alleviate the impact of the skilled labor shortage today, the fact remains that even if new workers are added to the labor pool, the industry will need to ensure that decades of experience and lessons learned aren’t lost as older workers retire.
| Your local Wirtgen America dealer |
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| Kirby-Smith Machinery |
| Nueces Power Equipment |
Contractors should consider how to bridge the gap by incorporating mentorship or other knowledge-sharing programs that connect veteran workers with new professionals. In connecting contractors — young and old, experienced and novice — you can help set the next generation up for success and ensure the longevity and sustainability of our essential industry.
Sean Grasby is Senior Vice President and General Manager of U.S. Construction and Wesco Energy Solutions.
