Dealing with the Labor and Material Shortage in the Industry

While the construction industry has mostly recovered from the pandemic, there are still some challenges that everyone continues to face. The issues surrounding labor and material shortages are still prevalent, and specialty contractors are no safer from it than anyone else in the industry. However, instead of giving up in the face of these challenges, specialty contractors are facing them head on and hoping to improve outcomes by boosting productivity. Recently, a webinar was held where construction technology leaders discussed how to deal with the labor shortage crisis and remain profitable despite the uncertainty and difficult market conditions. 

Investing in Technology to Minimize Risk

Most contractors struggle with finding skilled workers for their projects, and a lot of them even have to turn down proposed projects due to staffing shortages. A shortage of skilled labor also means that the project risk doubles because the contractor is forced to do more work without proper staff. Contractors now realize that these mistakes reduce their margin of error and are starting to invest more in technology in order to digitize their operations to lessen such risks.

Technology leaders in the webinar believed that using technology to support your construction process is a great way to start improving efficiency and mitigating risks on the worksite. Ben Schultz, the Founder and CEO of Labor Chart, explained that in order to minimize risk, it is important to first identify what can actually be controlled. This will allow you to better figure out how you can avoid all self-inflicted injury or risks during the project.

Managing risks can be as simple as providing your workers with the right CAT Heavy Equipment and tools to do their job. In this day and age, technology itself is an important tool. You can reduce safety concerns simply by ensuring everyone in the field has the right information about the job at hand. With the right data, field teams will be able to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Ensuring all the workers have the right information is made much easier with technology as well.

Overcoming Delays Through Digitization

The supply chain crisis in the construction industry is also a major challenge for contractors. Almost all contractors are short on one material or another. This has also caused a spike in the price of materials according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Delays in material delivery have also become quite frequent, posing a serious problem for contractors. In order to overcome these delays, digitizing the procurement process is now necessary. It is also important to have a record of what you ordered and exactly what it cost. While this was previously done through spreadsheets, with a digital platform, you can also compare collected data with future jobs and improve your process along the way.

With the help of the right technology, specialty contractors are able to deal with the ongoing labor and material shortage in the industry. Instead of resigning themselves to the lack of resources that are a result of the labor and material shortage crisis, they are facing the problem head on. Technology and digitization have become a major asset to the construction industry to overcome these challenges.