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 Top News
Firms are boosting pay and benefits, adding new training programs and adopting new technologies to cope, but labor shortages threaten broader economic growth as officials outline federal measures to help
Eighty percent of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce, according to the results of an industry-wide survey released recently by Autodesk and AGC of America. Association officials said the industry was taking a range of steps to address the situation but called on federal officials to takes steps to assist those industry efforts.
This is the first in what is expected to be an annual series of special Constructor issues looking at how the industry is evolving and sharing what contractors need to know to keep pace with those changes. The transformations coming to the industry will be sweeping, and the Constructor team wants to make sure that member firms understand what is happening and how to benefit from those changes.
AdvocacyAGC joined 41 transportation and construction industry allies in a letter to House and Senate leadership calling for inclusion in appropriations legislation necessary to fund the government in FY 2020 the elimination of a $7.6 billion rescission in Highway Trust Fund contract authority. The rescission, a federal budgetary mechanism, was included in the FAST Act highway authorization legislation. States receive contract authority in the transportation authorization legislation allowing them to commit federal dollars for highway and bridge construction projects in a variety of funding categories. States spend down these categories according to their priorities. The rescission reduces states' flexibility to move funds from one category to another to meet their pressing infrastructure needs and could result in certain projects not going out to bid.
Construction Economic NewsAverage hourly earnings in construction top private sector average by 9.7 percent as construction firms continue to boost pay and benefits in effort to attract and retain qualified hourly craft workers
Construction employment increased by 14,000 jobs in August and by 177,000, or 2.4 percent, over the past 12 months, while the number of unemployed jobseekers with construction experience remained near historic lows, according to an analysis of new government data by AGC of America. Association officials noted that 80 percent of contractors reported they were having a hard time finding enough qualified hourly craft workers to hire according to the results of a survey the association released recently.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
How contractors can mitigate work zone risks
Construction work zones create hazards for drivers and workers but steps exist to providing a safer workplace. A recent AGC of America survey of nearly 400 highway contractors found 67 percent of the firms reported at least one intrusion of a motor vehicle into one of their construction work zones during the past year. While drivers and passengers are at risk of injury or death, so are workers. The survey reported 28 percent of work zone crashes injured workers and 8 percent of the accidents killed a worker.
BY DEBRA WOOD
©iStock.com/Jimmyan
Our planet’s changing weather patterns are prompting myriad industries – construction included – to do things differently
Professionals in the realm of weather science say disturances such as tropical storms and wildfires will likely increase in frequency. Which means construction professionals are looking to up their game, raising the resiliency ratings on everything from infrastructure projects to buildings – homes, schools, hospitals and the like.
BY AMY DREW THOMPSON
©iStock.com/mvh
Laser scanning operates as critical tool in hospital construction
A modern hospital is a complex, demanding type of construction. The walls, floors and ceilings are dense with services including HVAC, water, drains, plumbing vents, medical gas, electric power and emergency electric power. There are very long corridors of perfectly aligned doors. Floor flatness and levelness are critical for some pieces of medical technology. Floor slope is crucial to sanitary drainage in patient bathrooms and showers. Ceilings contain structural support for heavy, boom-mounted equipment. And to make it all more exacting, new hospital buildings are often built to connect floor-by-floor with existing buildings.
BY STEVE MILLER
Photo by James Steinkamp Photography
Business TipsBusiness development is not a cheesy, disingenuous process of passing out business cards or relentless cold calling. Let go of the overly canned elevator speech and consider every conversation your opportunity to learn more about potential clients and their goals and challenges. In the latest AGC Business Development Best Practices, Rich Friedman, Friedman & Partners, explains why it’s time to change your story about business development.
Member News
McCarthy to build largest water filter modules in Texas
In order to meet the needs of a growing population and to shift from reliance on groundwater to surface water as the source for its drinking water, the City of Houston and four regional water authority partners are currently undertaking a 320MGD $1.765B design-build expansion of the Northeast Water Purification Plant (NEWPP). McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., a member of multiple AGC chapters, through the Houston Waterworks Team, was awarded three separate contracts on the project - the early works Central Plant foundations package which broke ground in June 2018, the raw water Intake Pump Station which began in early 2019, and the balance of the Central Plant which started in August 2019.
Rendering courtesy of Nault Architects
Construction firm has worked on campus for over 40 years
Lauring Construction, an AGC of Massachusetts member, announced the start of construction on the 41,000-square-foot Health Sciences Building at Assumption College. A groundbreaking was held on May 10 and construction will be completed for the fall 2020 semester.
Industry Events
For details on any event, please visit the Hiring Our Heroes Calendar.
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