Local firms struggle with labor shortage

By LUCY BODILLY
Special to the Journal

Last year, the predicted labor shortage struck fear in the hearts of one of business' toughest breeds - construction contractors. Many turned away work point blank, or raised prices to discourage it, because conventional wisdom was that large projects under construction would suck up every available body.

Though the shortage made it tougher for many, sometimes ingenuity saved the day. In other cases, less efficient work was the only answer.

For Butch Brooks of Woodworth and Sons in Tacoma, a highway contractor, the lack of trained operating engineers caused a problem on some jobs. "We could always get the people, but skilled people were hard to come by," he said. On some projects the shortage forced him to work less efficiently than he liked.

Boss Construction of Bellingham found it difficult to find workers who wanted to travel long distances to job sites. "We had a job at the Tolt River Reservoir, but carpenters refused to drive that far because of the large number of projects closer to home," said Tim Hart, company president. Some refused to even go to the job site; others showed up but said they were not coming back the next day. Eventually, Hart pulled employees off other jobs to work on the Tolt project.

"We picked the companies we knew could find the people to do the work," said Jim Karambalis, project manager. Even so, he said a shortage of steel erectors threatened to delay the job. But, in the end, the strategy paid off for GLY and "a number of large jobs people were expecting did not go through, which also made things easier," he said.

Most subcontractors with good benefit packages who provide steady work had little trouble keeping employees. At Infrastructures Inc., a framing subcontractor, the ability to provide core people with work over the past several years, meant that workers remained loyal to the company.

"We kept the same core people and did not have trouble finding people," said Vern Peterson, company president.

Though general contractors expected some price gouging, and reported bids running 15 to 25 percent higher at the beginning of the season, subcontractors denied raising prices inappropriately.

"Our prices did go up, but lumber and plywood prices went through the roof for a while," Peterson said. "We work for large contractors and they know if our prices are out of line." Labor prices will definitely go up four to five percent in June, he said, when new labor contracts take effect.

"And I suspect that if you have a non-union company, prices may go up even higher," Peterson said.

Labor problems this year presented a new twist, but construction experts predicted the shortage long ago, no matter how strong the market was for contractors. In the past few years, local contractors and industry trade groups worked hard to set up recruitment programs with high schools and through social service organizations that help the disadvantaged.

Though construction is one of the only professions where unskilled workers can earn high wages while they learn their trade, it still competes against other blue color and high-tech industries.

A recent article in an industry trade journal presented a unusual approach to the problem. The owner of a large industrial project in Texas upped its ante into the craft training fund to be used for better recruiting tactics.

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