U.S. architecture, engineering, and construction firms are being stymied by the shortage of experienced design and construction professionals and project managers, according to an exclusive Building Design+Construction survey of 133 C-suite executives and human resources directors at AEC firms.
“Finding good qualified people with experience in running projects is a challenge” is how one respondent summarized the AEC field’s shortage of so-called “seller-doers.”
Download a PDF of the survey findings (registration required)
Another industry executive worried about the AEC sector’s changing demographics, said: “There are not many young people entering the profession, and there is an extreme lack of talented people in the 10+ years’ level of experience,” said this respondent. “We have no problem hiring college graduates, but keeping them after five years is difficult, and then we start over with a new hire.”
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY
- Four out of five respondents (81.7%) said they anticipate their firms will add at least 5% to their professional staffs over the next two years.
- “AEC professionals with 6–10 years’ experience” was cited by 24.2% of respondents as the staff category that is more than usually difficult to recruit or hire, followed by “AEC professionals with more than 10 years’ experience” (17.1%).
- Project managers were deemed the third most unusually difficult position to fill, at 16.3%.
- Bringing up the rear: “AEC professionals with 3–5 years’ experience,” at 13.3%.
The majority of respondents said the hiring process for key professionals is taking longer than ever (54.6%). Less than one in five respondents (18.5%)
said their firms have not had serious problems hiring qualified professionals.
- “Specialty staff (IT, BIM/VDC, Revit, CAD, etc.)” were determined to be unusually difficult to recruit by 10.0% of respondents.
- Nearly six of 10 respondents (58.1%) said it has taken their firms four months or more to place their most difficult positions to fill.
- More than six in ten respondents (61.1%) said “flexible work hours” was offered as an incentive to attract qualified AEC professionals.
- Nearly seven in ten respondents (69.4%) stated that they used “word of mouth” (not specifically defined) as a recruiting tool. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23.2%) cited “word of mouth” as their firms’ most effective recruitment tool.
- The majority of respondents (54.6%) agreed with the statement, “It’s taking us longer than ever to fill positions for qualified AEC professionals.”
- More than four in five respondents (81.5%) reported one problem or other in their firms’ efforts to recruit and hire the right professionals.
Perhaps most startling of all was the finding that one in six respondents (16.7%) said their firms had delayed or turned down projects because they could not hire qualified AEC professionals to run them.
Respondents offered possible remedies for the talent shortfall. “Competition for talent is high,” said one respondent. “Focus by the entire team, including talent recruitment professionals, hiring managers, and company leadership, is key to success.”
“Firms need to realize that to attract and retain talent you cannot keep operating your company the same way they have been for the last few decades,” said another respondent. “You need to offer more vacation time, flexible hours, good insurance, a good salary. The firms that do this well do not seem to have issues with attraction and retention. Also, we have to be cognizant that these peak times will soon enough swing downward: they always do.”
Download a PDF of the survey findings (registration required).
Related Stories
Office Buildings | Oct 19, 2023
Proportion of workforce based at home drops to lowest level since pandemic began
The proportion of the U.S. workforce working remotely has dropped considerably since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, but office vacancy rates continue to rise. Fewer than 26% of households have someone who worked remotely at least one day a week, down sharply from 39% in early 2021, according to the latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Surveys.
Contractors | Oct 19, 2023
Poor productivity cost U.S contractors as much as $40 billion last year
U.S. contractors lost between $30 billion and $40 billion in 2022 due to poor labor productivity, according to a new report from FMI Corp. The survey focused on self-performing contractors, those typically engaged as a trade partner to a general contractor.
Urban Planning | Oct 12, 2023
Top 10 'future-ready' cities
With rising climate dilemmas, breakthroughs in technology, and aging infrastructure, the needs of our cities cannot be solved with a single silver bullet. This Point2 report compared the country's top cities over a variety of metrics.
Higher Education | Oct 10, 2023
Tracking the carbon footprint of higher education campuses in the era of online learning
With more effective use of their facilities, streamlining of administration, and thoughtful adoption of high-quality online learning, colleges and universities can raise enrollment by at least 30%, reducing their carbon footprint per student by 11% and lowering their cost per student by 15% with the same level of instruction and better student support.
Architects | Oct 4, 2023
Architects and contractors underestimate cyberattack risk
Design and construction industry firms underestimate their vulnerability to cyberattacks, according to a new report, Data Resilience in Design and Construction: How Digital Discipline Builds Stronger Firms by Dodge Construction Network and content security and management company Egnyte.
Building Materials | Oct 2, 2023
Purdue engineers develop intelligent architected materials
Purdue University civil engineers have developed innovative materials that can dissipate energy caused by various physical stresses without sustaining permanent damage.
Giants 400 | Sep 28, 2023
Top 100 University Building Construction Firms for 2023
Turner Construction, Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., STO Building Group, Suffolk Construction, and Skanska USA top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest university sector contractors and construction management firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue for all university/college-related buildings except student residence halls, sports/recreation facilities, laboratories, S+T-related buildings, parking facilities, and performing arts centers (revenue for those buildings are reported in their respective Giants 400 ranking).
Construction Costs | Sep 28, 2023
U.S. construction market moves toward building material price stabilization
The newly released Quarterly Construction Cost Insights Report for Q3 2023 from Gordian reveals material costs remain high compared to prior years, but there is a move towards price stabilization for building and construction materials after years of significant fluctuations. In this report, top industry experts from Gordian, as well as from Gilbane, McCarthy Building Companies, and DPR Construction weigh in on the overall trends seen for construction material costs, and offer innovative solutions to navigate this terrain.
Multifamily Housing | Sep 26, 2023
Midwest metros see greatest rent increase in September 2023
While the median monthly price of rent has increased by 0.71% in August, the year-over-year estimates show a national change of -0.06 percent.
Data Centers | Sep 21, 2023
North American data center construction rises 25% to record high in first half of 2023, driven by growth of artificial intelligence
CBRE’s latest North American Data Center Trends Report found there is 2,287.6 megawatts (MW) of data center supply currently under construction in primary markets, reaching a new all-time high with more than 70% already preleased.
