5 Ways to Grow Your Construction Business in 2023

The digital transformation is years in the making, but the pandemic put the heat on the digital landscape, especially for construction. The pandemic, the labor shortage, and historic investments in U.S. infrastructure, are creating a perfect storm throughout the construction industry.

In order to meet this massive demand, construction companies will need to be able to rapidly scale their operations by implementing more efficient digital processes and expanding their recruitment efforts.

Every industry has been navigating the same labor shortages, but the recovery of the construction labor market must also take into account the anticipated increase in construction projects following the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. 

At the same time, the construction industry is facing a unique labor turnover challenge: up to 40% of the current labor force is expected to retire over the next decade.

As a result of the labor shortage, contractors will need to work even harder to rebuild their workforce by targeting new talent pipelines.

This overhaul of talent recruitment should include attracting younger talent into the profession by providing opportunities for training and development. Construction is an industry that already utilizes mentorship roles with apprentices which lends itself to securing untrained talent as interns before they even graduate which will help expand the overall talent pipeline to include a younger, school-aged demographic before they choose other careers.

Some workers require competitive benefit packages offering more money or work-life balance, but younger generations have shifted priorities from purely financial reasoning and now 70% demand purposeful work at an employer who take a stance on environmental or social issues.

Construction firms that cannot offer the same inflated salaries as their competition need to work on creating a brand presence on social media that entices new applicants that want to work for socially conscious or environmentally friendly companies that can give them a sense of purpose.

Talent development must also include efforts to retain workers once they are on the team so they have a chance to grow with the company which naturally generates loyalty. Retaining employees is going to take more than pizza and team building exercises. With 94% of workers willing to stay longer at a company that invests in advancing their career with continuing on-the-job training, training programs should be a part of any employee retention plan.

Social media can be used to target active job-hunters; but even if they are not looking, workers may have the right skills and be convinced to apply. Social media outreach can be very effective for younger workers, and savvy construction companies can make good use of social media to recruit skilled workers.

From recruiting to retention, it is essential to strategically publicize attractive company stories covering exciting projects or desirable company benefits such as bonus-earning opportunities, job development training, or work-life balance through a combination of blogs and social media posts.

Companies that are newer to adopting technology—like the majority of the construction industry—can be particularly vulnerable to an expensive cyberattack.

A recent Forrester survey already shows 75% of respondents in construction, engineering, and infrastructure have already experienced a cyber incident in the last 12 months.

At this rate of cybercriminal activity, premiums for cyber threat insurance will certainly increase. The average cost of a cyberattack is now $200,000 which may not impact some of the larger firms, but 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses where only 14% are prepared to defend themselves..

Hackers typically gain access by sending phishing campaigns to get employees to install malicious software or share personal company information and will exploit third party vulnerabilities such as weak passwords on unsecured cloud services. It may not be possible to prevent every scenario, but construction companies will need to proactively mitigate existing risks and work to prevent devastating cyberattacks.