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Depleting Workforce? Enter the Age of SIPs and Prefab

We’ve already talked about material shortages and the havoc it’s wreaking on construction projects. What we haven’t talked about, however, is another shortage we’ve been experiencing: skilled labour.

You’ve probably already heard, but the construction industry lost more than 1 million workers when it briefly shut down for a few months last year during the pandemic. Although it has recouped nearly 80% of its workforce since then, the US Department of Labor reports that, as of June, the sector is still short 238,000 workers from pre-pandemic levels.

And the boom of new home construction and home improvement projects means this shortage is being felt more acutely than ever. BuildForce Canada’s national report, 2021–2030 Construction and Maintenance Looking Forward, forecasts construction employment to rise by 64,900 workers over the next decade—an increase of 6% over 2020 workforce levels. By the end of the decade, the respective provincial industries will have to cope with the need to replace nearly 259,100 workers, or about 22% of the current labour force.

Not Just A Pandemic Problem

The labour shortage problem has been developing for a long time and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. And while it didn’t create it, the pandemic did exacerbate the problem. This means that even with the pandemic winding down, labour isn’t going to necessarily bounce back.

One huge cause of this labour shortage is the retirement of more and more older generations, including the baby boomers, leading to a desperate need to recruit new blood to the skilled trades. In fact, 320,000 retirements are expected to take place over the next few years.

“By 2029, we will be short about 100,000 tradespeople if we don’t do anything,” Kieran Hawe, chief operating officer of construction services company EllisDon Corp., told The Globe and Mail

What Does This Mean for the Industry?

So what has been the current fix for this problem? Well, a lot of people either have a shortage of tradespeople or are using lower-skilled labour in order to meet the demand. But with traditional builds, this can cause problems like delays in construction, low quality control, missed deadlines, increased costs, and slower time-to-completion.

However, by using SIPs, builders can use more unskilled labour to their advantage. Instead of longer timelines and more logistical challenges when trying to coordinate trades, such problems can be remedied with eager-to-learn unskilled labour using a prefab solution. Taking what may traditionally be seen as a problem and leveraging it to our advantage with prefab can mean exponential growth across the industry.

Now that We Know the Problems, What’s the Solution?

All this at a time when there’s been a sharp increase in demand for housing (residential construction investment hit a record $43.4 billion in the second quarter of this year) and general commercial growth. So what can you do? 

It’s important that you choose a solution that can help you avoid delays due to workforce shortages. Such a solution should be able to:

  • Source methods and products that don’t require the need for additional tools or skill sets
  • Eliminate coordination between trades
  • Eliminate defects in the product before it gets on site 
  • Leverage tools and systems that allow for ordering and preplanning upfront

The Shameless Plug 

As our very own Director of Project Management Russ Jenkins put it, “When it comes to traditional stick framing, it’s a few hundred years of tradition that have been completely unimpeded by progress.”

This is one reason why the construction industry has remained in the dark ages—but it doesn’t have to anymore. Not to sound cheesy, but…there’s a better way! 

Before Your Project

When it comes to logistics, leveraging technology like Revit can mean all of your ordering and preplanning can be done upfront. We also provide remote training ahead of time to ensure you’re ready to rock once everything is on site.

When it comes to staffing, our common-sense solution means you can hire for common sense versus various, particular skill sets. Instead of having to coordinate and find a general contractor (1 person), a framing crew (4-8 people), and sub tradespeople for insulating, drywalling, mudding, taping, rough-ins, and more (at least an additional 2-3 people), using ZS2’s TechPanels means you only need one person that is trained to use our product, and they’ll bring along their own team—no extra work on your side necessary.

During Your Project

ZS2’s TechPanels are taking the traditional style and logic that exists and building upon it to make it more efficient and aligned with common sense. The frame, insulation, drywall, and lines for wiring and plumbing are all built into one panel instead of all the components being brought on site separately.

Additionally, since production is handled offsite in a quality-controlled environment, you won’t only be able to eliminate many if not all of the issues, delays, and challenges associated with an unpredictable environment, but what takes at least three hours in the field only takes an hour in the factory.

ZS2 Technologies 2,000 sq ft Building Time-lapse

Keeping it Simple

In addition to helping solve the labour shortage problem, ZS2 can also help solve the low-skilled workforce problem. As hundreds of thousands of more inexperienced laborers join the force, our prefab solutions help bridge the gap. We provide a manual that will allow green hands to be much more effective when putting sites together. This will provide more confidence for our clients who want to minimize the risk of structural failure while maintaining consistent build quality.

Our solution also makes economic sense, solving a pressing and immediate problem within a short time frame (via product availability, customizability, reduction in the need for materials, reduction in material waste and time needed, and easy training and implementation), and ultimately offering a benefit that investors can clearly and easily recognize.

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