Falling Short

Industry Stuggles to Fill Craft Demands

From project managers to plumbers, contractors across the Southwest are increasingly finding it more difficult to get skilled labor and management.

 

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And it's going to get worse before it gets better as the baby- boomer tradesmen and management begin to move into retirement.

Companies are using a variety of methods to attract and retain skilled workers, including better pay and benefits and in-house apprenticeship training, but it's often not enough.

"You see a lot of tradesmen chasing the flying dollar rather than the steady nickel," said C.J. Chavez of Albuquerque's G-Katmar Family of Companies, which specializes in dry utility construction for electrical, gas and communication projects. "What's happening is something of a turf war with individuals jumping ship, so we have had to be creative."

The company has developed an internal apprenticeship program and aggressively recruits from local high schools.

In Nevada, higher pay levels and lots of overtime have allowed Tim Puetz at Reliable Steel in Las Vegas to retain his 25- member workforce, but with all of the growth on the horizon, that could get tougher for the steel erection contractor.

"For unions, the pay packages are some of the highest in the nation," Puetz said. "The time is coming when the skilled union trades are going to need to reach out to the non-union building trades and even other states, to get the work done."

Some contractors are turning to temporary agencies, but often without luck.

"Every time I call a temp agency they just laugh at me," said Skip Bastrisky, CEO of Performance "53" Pipeline Inc. in Surprise, AZ. "I have gotten more help from the Central Arizona Shelter Service. People there are down on their luck, but I have had a few good surprises."

The demand is expected to exceed the supply through at least 2012. For example, the demand for hazardous waste technicians is expected to increase by 43 percent according the U.S. Bureau of Labor. For concrete workers and masons, the demand is expected to increase by 26 percent, with electricians seeing a 23 percent jump in demand, according the labor bureau.

The labor bureau predicts that, all construction trades will see an average 15 percent increase in demand by 2012.

On the design side, architects will see the biggest jump in demand with a 24 percent jump between now and 2012, according to the labor bureau.

There's also the issue of what young people want to do for a career.

"Most of the kids are getting into autos because a lot of schools have auto shops, or they are going into technology like CAD, programming or software development," said

Roger Gacke, regional manager for Kinetic Systems, a Phoenix mechanical contractor. "There's just not a lot of desire to go into the construction trades, and part of that is that kids don't understand what a plumber or electrician does."

Gacke added that concerns about labor drove the city of Phoenix to let the mechanical contract for the new and expanded Phoenix Civic Center in August even though mechanical work isn't expected to start until the end of 2006.

Some organizations and many companies are offering in-company apprenticeship training.

The Southwest Regional Carpenters Council also recently opened new facilities in Phoenix and Las Vegas, which union officials said has helped double the number of apprentices from 450 students to more than 900. The union offers general carpentry, drywall and interior systems and millwright apprenticeships.

In Phoenix, the local plumbers and pipe fitters union runs a school on West Thomas Road.

"There is still a huge need for skilled individuals and we are going to try to keep up with industry demands," said Rick Mills, an administrator at the Arizona carpenter's school.

There's also a need for the professional architects, engineers and construction managers, and schools such as Arizona State University's Del E. Webb School of Construction are struggling to keep up with the demand.

School officials said that the demand was so high that most of their students can pick and choose the company and type of work they want.

"Our students are getting multiple offers, and the trend is that if you don't get them as an intern and lock them down, you won't get them," said Bill Badger, director of the Del E. Webb School. "More than half of our students don't even interview because they were hired as an intern."