Is the Pandemic Costing Your Contracting Business? Here’s What You Can Do About It

A yellow hard hat sits on top of a wooden table.

There’s no doubting that the pandemic has created a lot of problems for the construction industry. The labor shortage, which was bad enough in 2020, it’s only getting worse. Experts estimate that the pandemic has cost businesses up to $1 billion per week in wages and lost productivity. Here are a few things to keep in mind, and tips to help your business thrive.

Lost Projects
The most obvious and damaging effect of lost productivity is missing out on projects. If you don’t have the labor to get the job done, then you’re not going to be able to collect its revenue. Of course, the construction industry has been dealing with this problem for years at this point. Many contracting businesses have had their ability to secure a project set on a knife’s edge, based on their ability to get a subcontractor in an in-demand field. If anything positive has come from that experience, it’s the understanding that you have to do what it takes to get a commitment from the best people. Starting off strong gives you a higher likelihood of getting that bid and keeping it.

Extra Responsibilities
At the beginning of the pandemic, experts weren’t sure if COVID-19 was more likely to spread as an aerosol or as droplets. If you remember seeing videos teaching people how to sanitize their groceries, you get the concept. Although they know now that it’s more likely to move throughout the air, protecting yourself and your business still adds an extra workload and expenses to go along with it:

Of course, many of these tasks are good practices for your business in general. Planning for them in your project timelines and your budget makes it easier to keep them from cutting into the rest of your schedule.

Missed Work Days
When people are sick, even if it’s not COVID-19, they may stay home to avoid transmitting it to others. It’s a practical choice for public health, but it can present a challenge for your business. A missed day of work can often translate into a missed opportunity. If you have a couple of employees who are out the whole week, you may face project delays that force you to delay the start of the next project. Worries about unexpected delays, from sick leave to supply chain problems, has forced people in construction to start rethinking their timelines for projects. Giving yourself extra time helps to keep you on schedule.

Sick Leave
The pandemic is changing people’s viewpoints on things like sick leave. Many workers do not have access to paid sick leave, which increases the chances that they will go to work while ill. If they must stay home because they are simply too sick to work, their companies have to deal with the unanticipated absence. Besides adding in extra time for unexpected delays, many contracting businesses may benefit from implementing realistic policies for sick leave. Allowing employees to stay home when they are sick decreases the likelihood that the illness will pass through the rest of the company.

High Stress
Of course, all of this upheaval has led to a much higher degree of stress for people in any industry, especially construction. As an industry, construction presents higher risks to many workers, who may find it difficult to balance external pressures with the demands of the job. People are more likely to report having issues with their mental health, which can cause problems even when they are not physically ill. Many companies are expanding access to mental health services as a way to help employees cope with these difficulties, in a way that makes it easier for them to keep working.

 

The pandemic presents a lot of challenges for the modern contracting business, but there are solutions. For more guidance on what you’ll need to run a successful contracting business, visit CSLS today!