As our economy and the housing market continue to recover, home builders across the country are seeking skilled workers – such as carpenters, framers and roofers – to help them build the American Dream. After many workers left the home building industry during the Great Recession to pursue employment in other sectors, recent surveys show that not nearly enough of them have returned.

An NAHB survey of home builders illustrates the depth of this problem. Six in 10 of those surveyed experienced delays in completing projects on time, 18 percent had to turn down some projects and 9 percent lost or cancelled sales because they had too few workers to complete their homes.

We’ve also experienced many of these issues here in Chattanooga and the surrounding area.  When builders are unable to schedule trades on time, it means that buyers are unable to move into their home on time. These delays and production logjams increase the cost of building homes and makes housing more expensive for consumers.

A home builder relies on a number of highly trained workers to get the job done right. This includes dozens of skilled artisans and professionals, including carpenters, architects, engineers, plumbers, electricians, painters and landscapers. A recent analysis from NAHB shows that 70% of builders typically use somewhere between 11 and 30 subcontractors to build a single-family home. 

There is ample opportunity for motivated students seeking a rewarding career path. Residential construction workers consistently express high job satisfaction. And average salaries in the Chattanooga region remain very competitive with other industries in our area.

The residential construction industry is one of the few sectors where demand for new workers is rising, and the housing industry is working diligently to meet this challenge by training more workers and leaders in the construction industry.