A rapidly shrinking workforce, antiquated processes and material shortages are just some of the biggest challenges facing specialty contractors today. Procore recently partnered with Dodge Data & Analytics and surveyed 537 specialty trade contractors—mechanical, electrical, plumbing, steel, and concrete— to learn more about the key problems hindering the trades today and identify real solutions.
Here are some of the top learnings from the Dodge survey:
Construction relies heavily on skilled workers, but a rapidly diminishing workforce is now the biggest challenge for specialty contractors, and this problem is ongoing. One major factor in this shrinkage are expected retirements.
Trade contractors are reporting that on average 32% of their current workforce is expected to retire in the next five years. This is another indicator that the labor shortage is not going away and something to take very seriously.
Additionally, about 27% of construction companies face a disastrous exit of nearly half their workforce during the same period due to retirement. The shortage of skilled labor negatively affects all specialty contractors, hampering projects, causing delays, and leading to quality and safety issues across the board. change
