More Technology to Counteract the Labor Shortage

I grew up in a builder’s house. My father was a home builder during most of his lifetime. From seeing him and the things he did, I decided to become an architect. I remember how often my father had to make customers wait due to the amount of projects he had on schedule. He built dozens of houses a year, employing up to a dozen workers per project. Like others, he had plenty of workforce available for construction in Puerto Rico, mostly done with reinforced concrete and concrete blocks, and sometimes light steel frames.

Those times are history. Since 2005, the construction industry worldwide began to register a constant decline in the available labor. The problem is that my father’s generation is facing retirement, and the construction industry is no longer attractive to younger people. Aspects such as safety at work, the need for physical strength, the manual complexity of some tasks and the rudimentary image of construction have influenced the decision of the new generations to rule it out as an employer. It is understandable that many construction companies have not employed anyone new in the last 5 to 15 years, according to a recent study by the company ZERO Damage LLC. The labor shortage in the construction industry is a real problem and, according to recent analyzes, it will only get worse.

Today, there seems to be only two possible solutions to this issue: (1) import trained labor from other countries or other companies in exchange for more competitive wages, or (2) train new labor in order to meet future demand (since it takes too much time to solve the problem immediately). However, neither of the two alternatives solves the root of the problem: the construction industry has not evolved hand in hand with generational changes. Construction technologies are rudimentary, the methods are archaic and the predominant business model fosters inefficiency.

Many technologies are precisely focused on solving the problem of skilled labor shortage. New plug-in systems that require very little or no personnel for installation, modular construction systems, 3D printing of construction materials, autonomous manufacturing and even robotic construction on site are just some of these developing technologies that promise to change the essence of the construction industry in the next decade.

Technology can be the answer to the growing problem of the skilled labor shortage in the construction industry. It may also be its new engine. Perhaps there is no labor shortage at all. Perhaps all that needs to be done is to update the construction industry to modern labor expectations.

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