For the past 23 years, Jack Horn Jr. has seen a disturbing trend. As president of Martin Horn General Contractors (www.martinhorn.com) in Charlottesville, Horn’s company has built, renovated or expanded some of the city’s most recognized landmarks—Scott Stadium, the Jefferson Library at Monticello and the Charlottesville Pavilion—all the while weathering the slow-but-sure deterioration of laborers in the construction field.
“I guess this is about as bad as it’s ever been,” Horn says. “We feel it in part with our subcontractors we work with, and certainly carpenters are hard to come by. People don’t see it as a viable career opportunity anymore.”
 Jack Horn Jr., president of Martin Horn General Contractors, says that fewer people see construction as a "viable career opportunity." |
In 2005, a State report noted that “growth in Virginia’s construction industry dramatically outpaces the supply of workers.” In Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson and Buckingham counties, the need for workers is projected to increase 40 percent from now until 2015. And the bad news doesn’t stop with the state: Some 50 percent of builders nationwide report severe or “some shortage” of carpenters and 40 percent are concerned about the availability of roofers, according to the National Association of Home Builders (www.nahb.org).
The downward spiral began in the mid-‘90s with the expanding housing market and hasn’t slowed, especially as older workers head for retirement and younger workers head into less labor-intensive fields, such as technology. The average age of a construction worker is 47.
So what to do? Locally, Piedmont Virginia Community College (www.pvcc.edu) has nabbed a $1.5 million U.S. Department of Labor grant for its Construction Academy, which may help meet worker demand. Immigrants also play a major role in the nation’s construction workforce. The NAHB’s report stated 20 percent of the construction workforce are immigrants, mostly Mexicans. Citywide, it’s even greater. At Advanced Concrete Foundations in Charlottesville, about 80 to 90 percent of the labor force—from skilled laborers to foremen—are Hispanic.
Still, with the housing market looking to cool this year, the only thing smaller companies may have to worry about is finding jobs. But for higher-end companies such as Martin Horn, it’s not stopping work, just making the search tougher. “It’s still hard finding masonry subcontractors,” Horn says. “When we have bidding, there’s usually three different subcontractors. We’re fortunate [these days] to have just one mason who will do the job.”
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