Labor shortages are permeating nearly every industry and it’s posing a few notable issues for South Florida’s construction industry. One of the biggest issues we are facing at Current Builders is in terms of scheduling and time—without the manpower or resources to build projects in a timely manner, project scheduling and lead times have made decision making by all of the construction partners more important. Lead times on some products can be up to one year out from the date of order.
The other main issue caused by a shortage of labor is the coinciding increase in the price of labor and materials. The labor shortage is impacting each sector of the supply chain, from on-site workers to drivers, factory personnel and more. I’m sure each industry professional is experiencing these impacts in their own ways.
I have been in South Florida’s construction industry for 40 years now and while I haven’t seen these issues so widespread before, I can say with confidence that we will get through this. Our industry has to pull together and have patience and understanding with each other as we work through the concerns impacting our industry.