Impact of Covid on the Construction Industry

Glen McCord is an experienced Sales and Operations Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. He is skilled in Negotiation, Business Planning, Operations Management, Sales, and Team Building. Presently Glen McCord works as a senior project manager at Southland Holdings.

What are some of the major challenges in the construction industry?

Since the advent of COVID, the construction industry has been experiencing a slow growth. There is a significant turnaround in the amount of infrastructure that needs to be placed, replaced, or rehabilitated. However, despite the fact there is a tremendous amount of work being done, the dearth of skilled workers is one of the major challenges faced by this industry today. As a result, many of my construction industry colleagues and I are forced to increase our training efforts for hiring unskilled workers or individuals who were not previously employed in the field in order to keep up with the accelerated pace of work.

We must be creative when attempting to balance risk and safety in the heavy civil market, regardless of whether the application is commercial, single-family, residential, retail, or multifamily. Although OSHA is there, we still have to take extra precautions to put in place safety measures so that we can bring in this new crew of unskilled workers and place them in this busy working environment.

What are some of the emerging trends to overcome these challenges?

Today, companies are reevaluating their risk tolerance on design-build projects. With the advent of improved construction technology and new workforce, and larger projects that require taller, shorter completion times, we are really vetting our designs a lot better. So I believe training is very essential in every market. At Southland, we value training and insist that all of our employees, even those who have worked there from top to bottom for more than 20 years, continue to learn and grow.

What are some of your latest project initiatives?

We actually collaborated with one of our local agencies who wanted to have a training program. We did a job training that covered every aspect of construction safety as well as preparing the students for actual work situations. Then, we choose a certain number of students from that pool to actually assign the work to.

How do you envision the future of this space?

The shortages of materials, trucks, workers and other resources will continue for a while. It’s important to redesign our programs and thought processes. For example, in Florida, trucking shortage is a common problem. What we have done at Johnson Brothers is to schedule our activities more closely aligned with the availability of trucking. Scheduling has always been important, but it’s now even more crucial for having an effective, efficient, and productive job cycle. One must stay on top of whatever scheduling software companies use, especially considering the shortages and extended lead times for material purchases.

What is your piece of advice for fellow colleagues?

As we are navigating into uncharted waters, as a senior project manager, it is my duty to the company, my staff, and our subcontractors to ensure that our position is protected and that we can effectively produce a product that will satisfy our customers—while staying within a given budget. It’s important for companies to admit that what they did 20 years ago doesn’t truly work today. Moreover, to manage risk, it’s essential for companies to provide field workers with some form of legal-oriented field training, so that they can recognize potential issues in the future and pursue prompt risk-shifting choices.