This article excerpt originally appeared in the Birmingham Business Journal.
Following years of steady growth for Birmingham’s economy, the Covid-19 pandemic threw a curveball for a business scene that was already facing steep workforce development challenges.
That’s why we asked local business leaders to share their insights on both topics as part of our new Birmingham 100 List, which tracks revenue and employment data for privately held companies headquartered in the metro area. You can check out our latest Cover Story for a detailed breakdown of the data from our massive research project.
Here’s what Birmingham 100 leaders shared about the biggest pandemic-related challenges for their businesses in recent months, along with labor market outlooks for their respective industries.
Turner Burton, president at Hoar Construction LLC
Covid-19 challenges: “In today’s environment where there is a higher demand for subcontractors/laborers than supply, one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced is ensuring we do the appropriate due diligence when selecting a trade partner … truly understanding their capacity, where do they source their materials, how do they build their workforce. All these factors impact our ability to make and manage a schedule and budget that is reliable for our clients.”
Workforce outlook: “Modular and prefabricated construction elements are becoming more and more popular. When the scope of a project allows for things like modular bathroom pods and prefabricated exterior skins to be cost-effective, they can solve for a number of challenges. Labor and project delivery pressures are eased with modular elements all coming from one source and less man-hours needed for installation.”
