With the construction labor market tightening, it’s getting even harder to find quality workers. 

Expert Bio: I’ve been in the construction industry for 45 years, starting in high school picking up short-term work, then becoming a licensed carpenter, project manager and eventually president of my own engineering and construction company. I’ve managed multimillion-dollar civil, environmental and governmental projects, including contracts for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Air Force, National Park Service, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the City and County of San Francisco and many others. I’ve seen both sides of the industry while working construction and hiring workers, and I’ve mentored many others in this industry. 

Industry Commentary: Employment in the construction industry is largely based on your own network of people you’ve worked with, which is an inefficient method of finding on-call employment. For companies, it can be difficult to find reliable workers with the right skill sets who are trustworthy and available to work each day. Some contractors still drive to hardware store parking lots or city-designated worker zones looking for contract day laborers. I’ve found that when you fill a role this way, you often get the person who’s most assertive in the parking lot rather than the person who’s the best fit for the job. It’s a gamble and lacks safety components for the contractors and the workers.

This industry needs something like the Uber app but for construction, so we can see who’s available -- with ratings for workers and contractors -- and then an efficient way to connect. We need to use technology to find the right workers and connect faster without the risk of hiring the wrong person.