Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession, slowdowns in the construction industry have resulted in a decade of lost opportunities to train workers, which has left generational gap between retiring construction workers and those newly trained.  

The Polk County labor shortage in the home building industry also comes at a time when approvals of hundreds of new housing units are added a breakneck speed.

According to Mike Hickman, president of Hickman Homes, there is a shortage of both skilled and entry level labor in the construction field stretching out home building times to a year or longer per home.

“During that recession period that we had back in the late-2000s, we saw a lot of people get out of the industry and go into other things,” he said. “Then with COVID, it's kind of this double whammy; where people retired and got out of the workforce.”

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“So we literally missed a decade of skills training for people in the industry and it's really coming home to roost.” He added, “We just we don't have the manpower to keep up with the level of building that's been going on in the last few years and the demand. There is a shortage of housing in all sectors.”

According to Gary Ralston, a managing partner at SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler realty, the population of Polk County rose by 3.9% between April 1, 2021 and July 1, with Lake and Osceola counties seeing a more than 3% increase.

By comparison, the state of Florida's population rose by 1.1% and in the United States, people were added at a rate of 0.1% over the same period examined in Ralston's recent residential demand analysis. Building permits reflected the growth in new residents with the following permits issued by county: Lake 4,505, Osceola 10,003 and Polk 13,071. In Florida there were 213,494 permits issued and in the U.S. 1,736,982.

Since 1985, Hickman Homes has built more than 690 homes throughout Central Florida, according to its website. Many of the sons and daughters of the company’s original workers have replaced their parents on the job, which has proven to be a lucky situation for the Lakeland-based home builder.

“We’re kept a core group, but they have been stretched,” Hickman said.

His work as a founding member of the Polk County Builders Association Foundation, has helped him recruit the rest of his crew.

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The foundation has supported the academies with field trips, mentorships and classroom speakers since 2004. The group also supports the Future Builders of America Clubs in Polk’s high schools.

The recent rise in home mortgage interest rates has not slowed down demand for homes to be built in Polk County.

Using data from Florida Realtors, Ralson reported the median sales price of a home in Polk is $335,000. By comparison, the median price in Florida is $410,000. Those numbers are up drastically from December when the median price of a Polk home was $308,000 and in Florida $373,990.

Over the same period, the mortgage interest rates for a 30-year loan went from 3.35% to 5.25%.

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A new generation of students to train in the construction field

Hickman, meanwhile, called the construction academies in Polk County Schools a “bright spot” because the four-year program introduces a new generation of students to training in the construction field.

Teacher Jimmy Giles runs the Bartow High School ACE Academy, a four-year high school level program in architecture, construction and engineering education. Students gain entry-level construction worker skills to college preparation courses through ACE.

College-bound students often enter construction management programs and the University of Florida’s M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management.

The ACE program is not like the wood or metal workshop classes middle schools and high schools offered in the 1970s for students to take as an elective, Giles said. He called the Bartow academy state of the art.  

Giles, who started with the district as a maintenance worker with cabinetry maker skills, had replaced a retired shop teacher at the urging of a principal who wanted a program that started students on a career path within the construction industry not just the teaching of a single skill such as woodworking, he said.

The academy, which has expanded to multiple schools throughout the district, gives students the option to attend their local school where they can play on a football team or engage in local extracurricular activities if they choose, while gaining training and experience in construction.

This school year, Giles' students are building a tiny house from a shipping container and kitchen cabinets. The house will be sold to raise money for scholarships, he said.  

“We generally do or kitchen a year and the last two kitchens we done went in a $300,000 house," he said.

Giles is not just proud of his student work products, but their proclivity to earn degrees in the field.

“Probably the biggest turn out we're turning out at Bartow right now is students going into construction management, “ he said.

Two women who recently graduated from the Rinker program are alumni of the Bartow academy, Giles said. The high school has between six or eight more college students currently in the university. He also noted that about 50% of his students are girls compared to a majority of boys only about five years ago.

One of the many graduates from the Bartow academy is Jessica Whittington, 32, of Bartow who is an employee at Hickman Homes. She has 16 years of experience in construction, engineering and development.

She started in the Bartow building department issuing permits. Of the academy and recalling building camps over the summers, she said, "It's awesome."

In July, employment across the country in the construction industry added more jobs than expected with 32,000 compared to the year before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The overall construction industry employment increased by 4.2% compared to 2021, an analysis by the Associated Builders and Contractors reported. In all, there are 311,000 more jobs by July over the year.

Paul Nutcher can be reached at pnutcher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Construction worker shortage could hurt Polk County home builders