The Industry Needs 500,000 Workers This Year. Contractors Who Solve Hiring Win Everything Else.

Every Monday morning, somewhere in America, a contractor pulls up to a job site one worker short. No call, no text. Just a gap in the crew and a schedule that just got harder to hold. The labor crisis is starting to hit you where it hurts: in lost revenue. 

The construction industry entered 2026 facing a projected shortfall of nearly half a million workers. That was ABC’s estimate from early 2025, when interest rates were expected to fall and construction spending to pick up. A revised model in January 2026 brought the number down to 349,000, but the drop reflects cooler demand, not a healthier labor market. And ABC projects the gap will climb back to 456,000 in 2027 as construction spending picks back up. Most of those workers are needed just to replace people aging out of the industry, not to staff new projects.

Ninety-two percent of construction firms report difficulty finding qualified workers. Forty-five percent say labor shortages are now the leading cause of project delays. And roughly 41% of the current workforce will hit retirement age by 2031, taking decades of field knowledge with them.

Paying more helps, but it doesn’t close the gap on its own. Hiring right, keeping people past the first 90 days, and building a crew that compounds in skill year over year is where staffing problems either get solved or get expensive. 

Jon Abernathy, Director of Contractor Engagement at TAMKO Building Products, has spent years working alongside roofing contractors on exactly this problem. “Culture is what builds strong companies,” Abernathy says. “It’s the number one thing that creates growth, scale, and sustainability for a business.”

Hire slow or pay fast

Construction’s turnover problem isn’t subtle. Industry-wide turnover rates have reached 68% in recent years, with skilled trades positions rising to 73%. Replacing an hourly worker costs 16–20% of their annual salary, and for specialized roles, that figure can reach 213%. A mid-sized contractor with 50 employees and 30% turnover could be spending $150,000–$250,000 a year just to stand still.

And the costs that don’t show up on a balance sheet are worse. Nearly half of firms say new hires either fail to show up or quit quickly. Every ghost and early exit costs you twice: once in the time and money you spent recruiting, and again in the productivity drag on the crew that has to absorb the gap.

Abernathy has adopted what he calls a “hire slow, fire fast” philosophy. His hiring standards include background checks, drug tests, and personality assessments. “It takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bunch,” he says. “We want to make sure we get the right people in the right seat.” The upfront investment in vetting pays off later in lower turnover and a more stable crew.

Your move: Add at least one screening step you don’t currently use: a skills assessment, a personality profile, or a structured reference check. If you’re filling roles in under a week, you’re probably moving too fast.

Set realistic expectations from day one

One of the fastest ways to burn through new hires is to oversell the job on the way in. Abernathy sees it constantly in roofing. “They make it sound like easy street, and then people burn out really fast and leave because the expectation wasn’t set,” he says. “You should be telling them: this is going to be a great career, and over time it’s going to get better and easier. But right out of the gate, it’s going to be extremely difficult.”

If your job posting promises easy money and fast advancement, you’ll attract people who leave when either or both of those don’t materialize. If it describes a demanding career with real advantages for those who stick, you filter for the kind of worker you actually want to keep.

Your move: Rewrite your job postings and interview scripts. Lead with the difficulty and the long-term payoff, not the short-term sell. You’ll get fewer applicants, but better retention.

Training is your first retention tool

“If you’re not trained as an employee to do your job well, you’re lost,” Abernathy says. “When you’re lost, you don’t feel accomplished, and people need to feel accomplished.” When workers show up, get handed a tool, and are expected to either figure it out or quit, most quit.

Training is a benefit that compounds: a worker who knows how to do the job safely and efficiently on day 30 is a worker who’s still around on day 300. But most contractors are starting from behind. Average employee tenure sits at roughly four years, among the shortest of any major industry. That clock starts on the first day, and a weak onboarding process speeds it up.

Your move: If you don’t have a structured onboarding process that covers safety, tools, expectations, and a clear 90-day milestone, build one. A dedicated HR function or onboarding lead pays for itself in reduced early attrition.

Give people a reason to stay past the first year

Once someone survives the first 90 days, retention moves from onboarding to incentives and growth. Abernathy recommends profit-sharing programs tied to measurable KPIs. “You say, ‘if you hit these goals, we’re going to make you feel like you’re part of the business,’” he says. “It makes them feel bought in.”

But money alone doesn’t keep people. Abernathy is equally emphatic about career visibility: “If people get stuck in a mold and there’s no room to grow in their career, they don’t stick around. They go find somewhere where there is.” His tactic is to build visible advancement paths into his org chart so employees can see where they’re headed as the company grows. 

A 2026 NAHB survey of young adults ages 18–25 reinforces the importance of a clear career trajectory. Among those interested in the trades, 73% cited good pay as the primary draw, but 65% said they’re attracted by the chance to develop practical, usable skills. Young workers aren’t just looking for a paycheck; they’re looking for a skill set and a path forward. Contractors who offer both have an edge over those competing on wages alone.

Your move: Tie a portion of compensation to specific, measurable outcomes your crew can actually influence. Then map your advancement paths somewhere your crew can see them, whether that’s an org chart on the wall, a one-page onboarding doc, or a conversation you have every quarter. 

Recruit like you market

If a contractor struggles to find good people, Abernathy says the first thing to re-evaluate is the go-to-market strategy for hiring itself. “You’re trying to market for business. You’re trying to market for help, too,” he says. “If a competitor is offering a 401k and health insurance and a whole load of benefits and you’re not, you’re going to really struggle.”

The industry is slowly catching on. More than half of firms have added social media and digital advertising to their recruiting, and 52% have engaged with high school or career and technical education programs. There’s also a larger tailwind worth noting: interest in construction among 18–25-year-olds has doubled over the past decade, from 3% to 6%. That share is still small, but 52% of undecided young adults said they’d reconsider the trades for the right salary.

The talent pool is wider than most contractors think. Those who assume that nobody wants to do the work are missing the real issue. Too many contractors aren’t selling the work well enough, or aren’t offering the total package (benefits, training, advancement) that career-minded workers are comparing against other industries.

Your move: Audit your job listings and recruiting channels the same way you’d audit your lead sources. Are you listing benefits and career trajectory, or just hourly rates? Are you reaching young workers where they actually look? If the answer to either is no, you’re leaving hires on the table.

Your hiring action plan

Most of what separates a stable crew from a revolving door comes down to a handful of operational changes. 

Fix the front door first. Pull up your most-used job posting. Does it describe the actual difficulty of the work and the long-term payoff, or does it read like a sales pitch? Rewrite it with specifics: what the first 90 days look like, what benefits you offer, what advancement looks like at one, three, and five years. And add one screening step you’re not currently using: a skills assessment, a structured reference check, or a personality profile.

Then look at who’s already inside. Review your last five hires. If fewer than three are still with you, your screening or onboarding process has a leak. Identify which step lost them. If you don’t have a structured onboarding program with a clear 90-day milestone and weekly check-ins, that’s the gap to close next.

Then build what keeps them. Once hiring and onboarding are stable, add the retention infrastructure: a profit-sharing or KPI bonus structure tied to outcomes your crew can influence, a visible advancement path, and at least one relationship with a local trade school or CTE program. None of these happen in a week, but each one reduces the cost of the problem you’re solving right now.

The bottom line

The workforce shortage isn’t a problem you can outspend. Abernathy has watched contractors scale with small, high-performing teams and watched others fail with rosters twice the size. “You can take on a lot more with a lot less if you have the right talent in the seat,” he says. “I’ve seen where three or four people can outperform ten.” The difference between those outcomes boils down to hiring discipline, focused onboarding, and a company that’s worth staying at.

Ready to keep your crews busy year-round? See how contractor financing through Acorn Finance helps you close larger projects and give your best workers the steady pipeline they need to stick around.