The brave new world of construction recruiting tTimes have changed. It once wasn’t unusual for a construction career o start and end with family. “You learned the skills, gained responsibility along the way and often ended up years later with ownership of the business,” said Kim Waseca-Love, education and apprenticeship director for the Spokane (WA) Home Builders Association. But that scenario is becoming less and less common. And with the ongoing labor shortage, the need for solutions is taking on a greater importance. Waseca-Love says there will soon be a deficit of 200,000 to 250,000 construction workers annually nationwide. Part of that drop-off will come as the result of older workers retiring, making the need to transfer their knowledge and skills to those taking their place an urgent one. The challenge, of course, is finding those new workers. Passing along knowledge from an experienced worker to one who wants to learn is an age-old practice, and it remains one of the most effective ways to train someone in a skill. Since 1980, the Spokane HBA has offered a four-year apprenticeship program, which is approved and monitored by the state’s Department of Labor and Industries. Through the program, apprentices undergo 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in residential carpentry, plus another 144 hours of related classroom instruction, and are paid wages by their employers. Read More SunTegra® Partners with Murphy Brothers Contracting for First Solar Roof Installation in Stamford, CT MurphSunTegra, an advanced Solar Roof manufacturer, has partnered with y Brothers Contracting, a high-end custom home builder serving Westchester and Connecticut, to install the first-ever solar roof in Stamford, Connecticut. The solar roof system installed on a waterfront home in Stamford, CT consisted of fifty five 105W SunTegra Shingles. The 5.8 kWp SunTegra Shingle solar roof is sized to provide an estimated 6,543 kWh per year and replaced the need for over 400 ft2 of asphalt shingle roofing. “Murphy Brothers Contracting believes that building green is simply building smart, and when we saw SunTegra solar roof shingles, we thought ‘Brilliant!’,” said Michael Murphy, of Murphy Brothers Contracting. “We frequently host educational events for architects and design professionals to showcase new innovative products. The event we held at this home received a lot of interest and gave attendees the opportunity to see a solar roof in real time operation!” Read More Lumber Shortages Encumber More Builders country wHome builders across the ere getting hammered by skyrocketing lumber prices earlier this year. And now, more of them are reporting issues with lumber supply, too. A new post on Eye on Housing cites recent NAHB survey results which found that more than 1 in 5 singlefamily builders are experiencing a shortage of framing lumber. While access to lots and labor remain much higher priorities for the majority of builders, the availability of lumber is quickly rising on many of their priority lists. Russ Pies, general manager at Builders FirstSource in Sioux Falls, S.D., says the added duties on and availability of softwood lumber have created pricing instability. “Our builders are feeling even more pressure to keep their projects on time and on budget,” Pies said. “If this instability continues into the fall, the risk will be too high for smaller builders to build spec homes and force them to downsize.” For now, the majority of builders continue to have access to sufficient lumber supplies, albeit at prices much higher than a year ago. However, lumber prices recently began leveling off and dropping in most markets. Read More SUMMER 2017 | HBRA of Fairfield County 29
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