Provide chain disruptions. Evolving sustainable requirements. Elevated materials costs. What appears to be a unending deficiency of expert labor. The compounding issues on account of mission delays. To not point out the unpredictable nature of climate, an element no contractor can really plan for.
Regardless of these challenges, concrete contractors are tasked with establishing the inspiration of the constructed world. Concrete Contractor sought out the perception from thought leaders all through the business for his or her standpoint.
There’s Provide, However Shouldn’t Demand Be First?
For Mark Reinhart, vp of gross sales and advertising and marketing at Cemen Tech, one of many high challenges learn how to take care of the uncertainty of the economic system. “For all concrete contractors, in addition to filth and website guys at this level, I feel they’re battling not having a superb grasp of what their materials prices are going to be,” he says. Learn our interview with Reinhart at ForConstructionPros.com/22945158.
Peter Bigwood, normal supervisor at Mecalac North America, calls the specter of tariffs the elephant within the room, noting that any value improve will doubtless have an effect on the demand for tools. Likewise, tariffs on any imported metal, aluminum, and cement/concrete are forcing contractors to make up that price.
Whether or not it’s as a result of tariffs or not stays to be seen at this level, however the impact has already begun. Reinhart has seen contractors maintain off on buying tools. They might have a backlog of labor, however not having a stronger sense of what to anticipate subsequent has triggered some contractors to hesitate on the following addition to the fleet.
Discovering and Maintaining Expert Labor
Practically each business chief claimed that the battle of discovering and holding expert labor as a problem. “However that’s not a ‘this 12 months’ downside – that’s been a ‘final 5 years’ kind downside,” says Reinhart. (Though it might have been even longer.)
“Labor shortages proceed to be a serious problem,” says Jeff Keeling, vp of gross sales and advertising and marketing at Brokk Inc. AGC’s 2025 Development Outlook survey outcomes confirmed the highest three issues have been all tied to labor: not sufficient employees, rising labor prices, and employee high quality. Learn our interview with Keeling at ForConstructionPros.com/22945239.
We related with Don Weaver, president of Weaver-Bailey Contractors and the 2025 Board of Administrators Chairman of the American Concrete Pavement Affiliation (ACPA), in addition to Edward Wessel, president/COO of Hello-Manner Paving Inc. and second vice chair of the ACPA. Each acknowledged that discovering expert labor is all the time a giant problem, particularly for concrete finishers, tools operators, mechanics, and noticed operators. Learn our interview with Weaver and Wessel at ForConstructionPros.com/22945274.
Even nonetheless, Dirk Tharpe, territory gross sales supervisor at Oldcastle APG, says fewer younger persons are getting into the trades. Whereas there are some areas of the business which have a compression of labor, there’s a rising demand for concrete building, but the open positions aren’t being stuffed.
Tharpe believes that one of many components right here is that the upcoming era usually doesn’t have the publicity to the advantages and alternatives of hands-on, expert work. “Consequently, contractors are struggling to seek out dependable expertise to satisfy rising demand,” he says.
Whereas she agrees that expert labor, rising materials prices, and the volatility of the provision chain are persevering with challenges, Marianna Kopsida, PhD, business supervisor – IMF & Vertical Development at Trimble, is including “knowledge” to the record of challenges for tomorrow’s concrete contractors.
“Concrete contractors have additionally been battling the pervasive problem of information fragmentation and inconsistent data circulation, instantly impacting area productiveness and rising expensive reworks,” she says.
Because the business continues to combine extra expertise into the job, the flexibility for contractors to have up-to-date knowledge and knowledge will doubtless be key for tomorrow’s concrete jobs. Think about what it might be like having knowledge on website situations, design adjustments, materials specs, and so on. all on the fingertips of crews.
Kopsida provides, “This disjointed knowledge circulation results in pointless time spent validating data, fixing avoidable conflicts on the fly, and performing inefficient handbook duties, all of which instantly suppress on-site output and result in important operational inefficiencies.” Learn our interview with Kopsida at ForConstructionPros.com/22945448.
Can This Be Repaired?
The concrete demolition and removing sector shares an analogous story. It’s an space inside the concrete building business that has damaged grounds on how implementing trendy expertise has been aiding contractors to work smarter.
“Fashionable machines have made unimaginable strides to turn into quicker and simpler to make use of with extra automated capabilities than ever,” says Keith Armishaw, enterprise improvement supervisor – North America at Aquajet. Of their case, their hydro-demolition machines use high-pressure water to demo and take away concrete rapidly. This retains a excessive productiveness fee whereas permitting contractors work safely with decreased bodily pressure and fewer publicity to silica mud.
Likewise, Jeff Keeling, vp of gross sales and advertising and marketing at Brokk Inc., says they hear from contractors often who want to seek out mechanized alternate options to handbook labor. “Contractors are in search of options like this to take care of their productiveness in gentle of labor shortages and to guard the well being and security of their groups,” he says.
Instruments and tools have been addressing productiveness and effectivity ceaselessly. That’s the purpose. The pressures in at present’s building market have solely compounded the challenges and triggered a “renewed focus” on power multiplication of the workforce, pushing the necessity of innovation inside the business’s instruments and tools additional.
“Contractors are more and more turning to tools producers for options that ship larger reliability, decrease upkeep necessities, and improved productiveness,” says Model Fredricks, senior supervisor of product advertising and marketing at Milwaukee Device. Learn our interview with Fredricks at ForConstructionPros.com/22946124.
At the moment’s tools platforms have been making a measurable impression on the jobsite. Elevated security by utilizing corded tools when mandatory/wanted, a quieter software assist with elevated communication on-site, optimize the workflow, to not point out the strides in achieved over time for ergonomic security.
There’s additionally the environmental concerns for each the local weather and the contractors well-being. In response to Invoice Harman, vp of product administration, industrial and normal building at DEWALT, electrical tools platforms have been proven to supply a major % much less of CO2 emissions throughout use than gas-powered counterparts.
Addressing the necessity for knowledge, their concrete sensor platform with Converge offers contractors compressive energy achieve knowledge mixed with climate situations to raised predict when their product will attain important energy. “This optimizes workflows by permitting concrete professionals to start work sooner as customers can instantly measure hardening somewhat than counting on estimation. Customers can even extra exactly measure the precise quantity of cement wanted within the combination, which helps scale back pointless price and carbon emissions,” provides Harman.
One of many methods Weaver and Wessel have been combating the problem by growing the workforce already on employees. They’ve elevated coaching to raise expertise and are hopeful that the trouble pays off. On high of further coaching, Wessel explains that Hello-Manner Paving Inc. has put effort into making the enterprise a spot the place employees wish to stick with PTO packages and a mid-year bonus.
Bigwood has seen related inventive efforts within the business by providing versatile working situations, revolutionary pay schemes, and higher coaching.
Sadly, fixing the expert labor situation for concrete contractors isn’t going to be a straightforward resolution. “From being out within the area and on jobsites, my sense is not any concrete contractor is resistant to labor constraints,” says Harman. He tells us that he has heard of contractors taking fewer contracts whereas others take up additional time. Regardless, both methodology impacts profitability.
Cemen Tech’s Reinhart tells us that of the contractors he’s spoken with, discovering drivers has been the primary problem. He says he’s seen contractors improve advantages to maintain good staff and even began contemplating opening up hiring practices by contemplating ex-cons/felons.
“Now we have different prospects that may use firefighters as a result of they’ve their CDL licenses,” he says. “They’re off generally three days of the week to rent them to come back in and drive.”
Along with using expertise corresponding to robotics and actuality seize instruments to bridge the labor hole, different contractors, explains Trimble’s Kopsida, have partnered with commerce colleges.
Twenty Twenty-Six
“The most important problem in 2026 will proceed to be the scarcity of certified labor,” says Weaver.
Nevertheless, “the issue goes means past the diminishing pool {of professional} concrete finishers and applicators,” says Tharpe.
“Labor shortages and rising prices will proceed to strain contractors to seek out smarter, extra environment friendly methods to work,” says Fredricks. “The businesses that succeed can be those who embrace innovation, leveraging new applied sciences to remain forward of each regulatory and financial challenges.
To place it succinctly, Kopsida anticipates a balancing act between the continued labor scarcity and using the appropriate knowledge the appropriate means.
In 2026, I anticipate the largest problem for the concrete business would be the simultaneous strain to quickly undertake superior digital and automatic applied sciences to spice up area productiveness, whereas additionally navigating the complexities of sustainable supplies and volatility of prices into every day operations, all inside the context of a persistent expert labor scarcity. Balancing the drive for technological effectivity with the crucial for sustainability and workforce improvement would be the important hurdle for concrete contractors.
