If you run a roofing, HVAC, electrical or general contracting company with 20 to 200 people, you don't need a report to tell you hiring is hard. You've felt it: a crew short every week, a job pushed because you couldn't staff it, a good tech who left for a bigger outfit.

The construction labor shortage is real, and the numbers back you up. But there's a second half to the story that gets less attention. Most small contractors also lose some of the good people who do exist, not because those people don't want the job, but because nobody at the company owns hiring. The callback waits until Friday. The job post says "competitive pay." Nobody is looking for the people who aren't applying. And the new hire gets thrown on a crew with no plan.

The shortage is outside your control. Those four things are inside it. This post covers both.

How big is the construction labor shortage?

Here's what the most recent public data says.

So yes, the pool is small. When the unemployment rate for experienced workers is at a record low, the people you want mostly already have jobs. That changes how hiring has to work.

Where small contractors lose the people who do exist

The same AGC survey has a finding that should get every owner's attention: 83% of firms reported at least some turnover among new field employees in their first 90 days, and 42% said new hires fail to show up or quit shortly after starting. The most common reason contractors gave for early departures was a mismatch between what workers expected and the reality of the work [2].

That's not a shortage problem. That's a hiring process problem, and it's one you can fix. In our experience recruiting for contractors, the leaks usually show up in five places.

1. Nobody owns hiring

At most 20 to 200 person contractors, hiring belongs to everyone and no one. The owner posts the job. The office manager forwards applications. A superintendent says he'll call people back after the pour. Everyone is doing their real job first, which is exactly what they should be doing.

The result is that hiring happens in bursts: a flurry of calls when a crew is short, then nothing for two weeks. Good candidates don't wait through the quiet weeks.

2. The job post doesn't answer the questions tradespeople actually ask

"Competitive pay. Great team. Must have own tools." That post could belong to any company in your county, and it gives an experienced electrician no reason to pick yours.

Skilled workers who are already employed want specifics before they'll make a move: the pay range, the schedule, how much travel, what kind of work (service, new construction, commercial), whether there's a company truck, and what the path looks like after year one. If your post doesn't say it, they'll assume the answer is worse than it is.

3. Callbacks are slow

When a good tech applies, they're usually talking to more than one company. If they apply on Monday and your call comes the following week, there's a real chance they've already accepted somewhere else, or simply stopped answering an unknown number.

Speed isn't about being pushy. It's about showing the candidate that your company is organized, which is exactly what they want to know about a future employer.

4. Everyone waits for applicants

With unemployment for experienced construction workers at a record low [3], many of the people you'd most like to hire are not scrolling job boards. They're on a job site right now. Posting and waiting only reaches people who are actively looking.

Finding the others takes steady work: reaching out to people with the right license and experience, staying in touch with past applicants who were a near miss, asking your best people who they've worked with, and building ties with trade schools and apprenticeship programs. AGC found that 48% of firms increased engagement with high schools, colleges and career and technical programs, and 49% added or increased online recruiting such as social media and targeted ads [2]. None of it works if it only happens when someone has a free afternoon.

5. The first 30 days are sink or swim

A new hire shows up, gets pointed at a truck, and is expected to figure it out. No one checks in. Nobody told them the first two weeks would be mostly material runs, or that the Thursday job is two hours away. By week three they've decided this isn't what they signed up for.

AGC found contractors are responding with structured onboarding, regular check-ins, formal jobsite orientations, safety-focused onboarding and mentor or buddy programs [2]. These don't cost much. They just need someone to plan them before the person starts.

Five fixes you can put in place this month

You don't need a big HR department to fix these. You need a few simple rules and someone responsible for keeping them.

What this looks like in practice

This is an illustrative example, not a real client.

Say you run a 45-person HVAC company and need two service techs before summer. Your current post says "HVAC Tech, competitive pay, apply now," and applications sit in an inbox until the office manager has a slow afternoon.

Now picture the same search with the five fixes in place. The post lists the pay range, the on-call schedule, the take-home truck and the type of service calls. Each applicant hears back the same day. The person who owns hiring also reaches out to a handful of licensed techs every week, follows up with two strong candidates from last spring, and asks your senior techs who they'd vouch for. The two people you hire get a ride-along week, a written 30-day plan and a check-in from you on day 7.

None of that changes the size of the labor pool. It changes how many of the good people in that pool actually end up working for you.

Hiring the best people, not just the available ones, starts with knowing what an A player looks like for your company. My Expert Recruiter founder Mariane Amorim, a Registered Professional Recruiter (RPR), explains how in her video "How To Hire A Players (Steve Jobs' Rule)".

Where a dedicated recruiter fits

The fixes above are simple. The hard part is doing them every single week while you're also bidding jobs, managing crews and keeping customers happy.

That's what My Expert Recruiter does. We give your company one dedicated, full-time recruiter who works only for you, inside your team and your tools. Your recruiter is trained through our Expert Recruiter Training Program before day one, owns the callbacks, the sourcing, the scheduling and the follow-through, and has our team behind them. It's a fixed monthly fee with no placement fees, so the goal is the right hire, not a fast invoice.

We've seen how much consistency matters. ATC Healthcare of NW Florida, a healthcare staffing company, went through three in-house recruiters in eight months before adding a dedicated Expert Recruiter from MER, who was calling candidates on her first day.

Want the full story? Read the ATC Healthcare case study.

If you'd like to talk through where your hiring is leaking, book a conversation with us.

Sources

1. Associated Builders and Contractors, "ABC: Construction Industry Must Attract 349,000 Workers in 2026 Despite Macroeconomic Headwinds," January 15, 2026 (349,000 net new workers needed in 2026; 456,000 in 2027; about one-fifth of electricians over 55). abc.org

2. Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER, "2026 Workforce Survey Analysis," survey conducted July and August 2026, 1,830 responses (87% have craft openings, 82% salaried openings; 88% of firms with craft openings say they are as hard or harder to fill; difficulty filling electricians 81%, HVAC technicians 77%, concrete workers 76%, superintendents 75%, estimators 72%; 83% report turnover among new field employees in the first 90 days; 42% say new hires fail to show up or quit shortly after starting; 49% increased online recruiting; 48% increased engagement with career and technical programs). agc.org

3. Associated General Contractors of America, "Contractors Add 22,000 Jobs In August, Construction Unemployment Rate Hits Record Low Of 3.1%; Association Survey Finds Firms Struggle To Fill Openings," September 4, 2026 (unemployment rate among recent construction workers 3.1%, not seasonally adjusted, lowest in the 26-year history of the data). agc.org

4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, "Table 1. Job openings levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted," released September 29, 2026 (construction job openings 251,000 in August 2026, preliminary; 299,000 in July 2026). bls.gov

5. NFIB, "Labor Demand Takes a Step Back in August," NFIB Jobs Report, August 2026 survey of 476 member firms (35% of owners had job openings they could not fill; 82% of those hiring or trying to hire reported few or no qualified applicants). nfib.com

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