12/13/2022—Construction faces unique challenges as the economy rebuilds, following the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering effects. These challenges include lower productivity, a result of high supply costs and a dwindling workforce, failure to stay competitive with digitization methods, and budgetary overruns. Over the last year however, construction workers have seen a positive effect with rising wages at impressive rates. Construction wages are currently 6% higher than in 2021, marking the fastest growth in 40 years.¹ This newfound boost carries ripple effects in the construction sector.
Scarcities in labor have led to a significant dip in the housing market, limiting the amount of affordable housing for many in the United States. With increased incentive to join the construction workforce, analysts believe that more affordable housing could become available. “The future of homeownership depends on the cost of new housing,” said Robert Dietz, National Association of Homebuilders SVP and chief economist. “Improvements can only be made through industry-wide efforts to improve the labor outlook.”¹
As a result of higher employee compensation, compounded with higher supply costs and disruptions in supply chains, project managers are faced with a complex new challenge when preparing a budget. If they fail to factor in rising labor costs they risk budget overrun, and when they do factor in these costs the rest of the budget must reallocate accordingly. Eliminating supply waste, machine and labor downtime, and increasing safety are all essential to maintaining project budgets and stoking stakeholder confidence.
CoRe’s Connected Resources platform helps alleviate the pressure of rising construction wages and their resulting budget constraints. CoRe helps protect employees at work, and provides admins with real-time visibility of all jobsites, ensuring that downtime is minimized, while productivity is maximized. This broad vantage point allows management to also prevent overwork, a major contributor to injury and employee loss.
With safety features including built in fall detection, customizable zone alerts, and SOS-button alerts, employee safety is at the forefront of any project. CoRe’s Personal Safety Device (PSD) wearables also contain training profiles for each individual, allowing management to ensure that an employee is properly trained for whatever assignment they are assigned. With training profiles, employees receive the necessary trainings they need, while enhancing their skillset and specializations.
In keeping with a stringent budget, CoRe gives project management the ability to maximize machine output and avoid downtime. Machines are tracked and maintained according to usage and schedule. In this way, managers can avoid machine breakage and downtime by addressing and fixing machinery before it breaks.
Utilizing the rich data provided when CoRe is employed on jobsites, project planning is done more accurately, with consideration to increased wages and how they will affect the overall budget. Learn more today on how CoRe can help you maintain and increase your bottom line during these uncertain times.
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¹ Lloyd, A. (n.d.). Construction worker pay grew at the fastest rate in 40 years as builders are desperate to keep up with the real estate boom. Business Insider. Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/construction-pay-growing-residential-commercial-real-estate-boom-2022-3
