July 30, 2007

Trades

Construction firms face management shortage

Jean Sorensen

correspondent

VANCOUVER

B.C.’s construction industry is not only facing an acute trades skills shortage but also companies are scrambling to find foremen, supervisors, estimators and middle managers who can guide projects through to completion. The shortage is so acute, say some general contractors, that those individuals out there are being wooed, wined and dined to come to B.C. or by competitors to move to another company.

“Poaching isn’t suggested as a good human resources strategy,” says Vancouver Regional Construction Association president Keith Sashaw, although he knows it happens in a tight labour market.

But, the VRCA and other associations are attempting to bring forward new initiatives such as joint-venturing with B.C. Institute of Technology on new programs to help elevate the shortage of managers. “In the 1990s, we lost a lot of these people – they left and went to other jurisdictions,” Sashaw says. John Miller, president of JJM Construction in Delta, says today’s keen competition for skilled project managers is further deepening project costs and just making it harder to do business today. “It is driving up the cost. We are doing fixed price contracts and already facing escalation on labour costs,” he says.

The middle-management crunch is being compounded by a number of factors. In a nutshell: the 1990s slimmed the field and kept new entrants not only out but those in line to be promoted down. They just didn’t get the experience.

Demographics are such that many who did get to become skilled project managers, supervisors, and foremen in the 1990s are holding the industry together today as baby-boomers and they are edging into retirement.

Add in the explosion of new contracts and companies are scrambling. “It takes time to train people up,” says Miller, echoing a common workplace sentiment today. “I have never seen it so bad, “ acknowledges Terry Leroux of Colter Developments in Richmond. He says he spends evenings with his “little black book” which lists people he has worked with over the years “phoning across Canada”. He’s constantly on the search for managers or supervisors and taking prospects out for a good dinner is part of the process in winning new managers over. Colter is also sending younger managers off to places such as BCIT to hone their skills.

“You are seeing a lot of carrots dangled these days,” says Enrico Matino, senior estimator for Columbia Bitulithic in Coquitlam when he talks about the hot market for managers. He says that makes it difficult for unionized companies to keep people when there are set guidelines on what can be offered. But, while it’s difficult, he says his company has also picked up a few new candidates.

The new VRCA-BCIT program is attempting to address the shortages issue. The venture – with courses for the Construction Operations program and Construction Supervision program begin in September – is geared to part-time studies for those wanting to upgrade. The Construction Operations program is open with a minimum entrance requirement of Grade 10 and specifically for people with a trades background.

The Construction Supervision program is open to individuals who have completed the Construction Operations program and to individuals who gain department approval for direct entry. The course topics range from applied construction math to safety and environmental legislation and project estimating. Individual courses can be taken within the programs for professional development. (More information from the VCRA or BCIT’s program co-ordinator Beverly McQuarrie at 604-432-8586 or beverly_mcquarrie@bcit.ca).

Jean Rankin, human resources manager for Dominion Construction, says while there is a need for outside courses that help individuals become managers or help improve those skills, her company is also attempting to focus on training and promoting from within.

“We have our own in-house training program,” she says, adding this provides an incentive for employees internally looking for advancement. “We are trying to be a good employee so we can retain our people,” she says.

Matino and Miller both point out the difficulties that are being faced by anyone wanting to upgrade. Matino says that after working a long day in today’s fast-paced environment, many individuals are simply too tired to move into the classroom. Miller says companies today also have to deal with changing demographics at the entry side of the industry.

Today’s modern couple are both working to pay a mortgage, he says. As a result, they value their free time with their family and are often not wanting to move into supervisory or management roles which can make greater demands on time. “A lot of young people don’t want to do the job,” he says.

Miller says his company has also started its own in-house program but he says it is also trying other approaches to filling supervisory slots. “We are trying everything,” he says, adding candidates include new emigrants, women, as well as younger males willing to take on the challenge. “There isn’t just one solution today.”

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