Shortage of skilled workers hampers busy builders, plumbers 'in short supply'

Michael Dishberger said the shortage of skilled workers to finish new homes isn’t a novel problem but is has become a critical one in the current environment. 

“The skilled trades have always been a problem,” Dishberger told Houston Daily. “The plumbers ... have always been in short supply."

The problem isn’t a financial one, he said.

Michael Dishberger | Submitted

“Those guys, if you actually start a business, you can make some pretty good money,” Dishberger said. “The guys have become master electricians, master plumbers. They can make six figures easily. And the guys that they have, they make pretty good money.”

The issue is people not seeing the trades careers as a viable future, he said.  Dishberger, who is the co-owner and CEO of Sandcastle Homes Inc., said he hears it on a regular basis.

“Most kids, most parents don't want their kids to grow up to be a plumber or electrician,” Dishberger said. “They want them to go to college. Some kids are ready for college and some are not ready for college. I got nephews that should never go to college, but they're going to college because they're adults.”

That means not as many people are choosing the building industry, and as the demand for houses rises, that is becoming a more obvious issue. He said installing air conditioning in new homes also is a concern.

“They're not in short supply. But it's not the technicians,” Dishberger said. “It's more the rough crews, the guys who are working inside the attics, putting the stuff in before sheetrock. Those always have been in short supply. Until recently there was an eight-week lead time to get AC work done in your home."

“Some of the air conditioning companies, the cabinet companies, these guys are not able to get the work done yet. Adds to the time,” he said. “This year is horrible. This is the most horrible and it's getting worse and worse. There's a shortage pretty much every week." 

Dishberger has extensive experience in getting homes built and on the market. He started in the industry when he left the Army and was trying to decide on a career. 

“I actually was I was a chemistry major and in the military, I was a nuclear chemical officer and I thought I would be good in chemistry,” Dishberger said. “And I decided after some interviewing that I didn't really like the work aspect of the business. I did some searching and it was in ‘83, some really good ads in the paper [said] you make all this money building houses.”

That was just as the Texas oil boom was coming to a halt after a decade-long run.

“It started with the 1982 recession,” said Bill Gilmer, head of the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, told Houstonia magazine in June 2020. “Houston thought we were the smartest people on the Earth at that time and had everything figured out, and the rest of the country just didn’t know how to run their business. Then oil prices started to fall.”

Dishberger said there were 6,000 building permits issued in 1986 as he got started compared to the current 30,000. He worked in master plan communities, which were popular even as the economy faltered.

Dishberger, 63, joined Sandcastle Homes a decade later. He has seen the industry rise and fall. With houses currently highly valued as both homes and workplaces, he sees the need for skilled workers to help meet the demand.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were 739,200 jobs for electricians in 2009. Turnover was 8%, twice the rate as other jobs.

Every year around 82,200 job openings are projected. They can make a good living, with a median annual wage of $27.01 per hour, or $56,180 annually, the bureau reports.

The BLA reports there were 490,200 plumbers in the U.S. in 2019 with a turnover of 4%. By 2029, there is estimated to be a demand for more than 500,000 plumbers, despite $26.52 pay per hour or $55,160 annually.

The problem is worsened as more skilled workers retire than enter the field. In addition thousands of companies shut down during the 2008-09 recession, and not all those jobs have been replaced more than a decade later.

As skilled tradesmen retire, younger workers aren’t stepping into those vacant positions, Dishberger said.

“There are guys who will say, ‘I'll intern these guys and they can work for me, we'll give them their hours,’” he said. “It's all based on that number of hours you put in and the time and taking a course, taking a test. There's good money in it but it's just not something the parents, all my friends, say, ‘My kid grow up to be a master plumber?' They will not say those words; they will not come out of their mouths.”

He said he even hears it from contractors who have built successful companies from the ground up. They don’t want their kids doing this work, either, Dishberger said.

He said builders and their associations are promoting education and training, encouraging high schools and colleges to add trade classes and programs.

“Back in my day we had shop class and you can learn how to be a mechanic and electrician and plumber at high school," he said. "You got to start on that. I remember taking drafting in woodshop and some other stuff there. That was just something you did. Nowadays those classes don't even exist.

“Our Houston high schools and colleges now started to offer these programs. Well, we're we're definitely encouraging. And we have the state association give out scholarships and we are always pressing to get more people to give money to these programs.”

Dishberger said he has personally tried to recruit workers.

“I volunteer, I go to some job things where you talk about construction or I've had high school kids on my job sites who just want to see what it's like to be on the job site,” he said. “And we walk around for half a morning or a day and show them around a few times, all before COVID-19. Of course, we're not doing that now. A lot of builders were volunteering, ‘Hey, we'll take people out.’ We need more people in the business. It baffles me because the unemployment rate in the U.S. is 6%.”

Dishberger said politicians can help. 

“We work with the state associations, the state legislators, more on these kind of things,” he said. “And there's usually some bills passed to provide some money and training. And it's usually at the community college level ... it's just much harder to do things nationally. It's always easier, the more local you are.”

Dishberger was the 2016 Texas Builder of the Year, the 2008 Greater Houston Builders Association Houston Builder of the Year, and the 1989 Bay Area Builder of the Year.