Construction labor crunch threatens development
The problem has been building in the valley for years: construction companies can’t find the laborers to meet their demand.
Construction in the Flathead is regularly one of the industries hardest-hit by the summer labor shortage as the breakneck rate of local development outpaces the supply of workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic elevated the demand for new homes and remodels beyond ever-before-seen heights. At the same time, operations have been disrupted by material shortages, supply chain hiccups and a tight labor market buffeted by federal assistance.
“They’re looking for guys really bad,” observed Ray Veilleux, a Kalispell contractor of 35 years. “It’s nuts. It’s crazy.”
Veilleux runs a small operation that mainly relies on subcontractors. He’s usually able to go back to the well to find the same set of reliable partners to get the job done.
But the well has been drying up over the past few summers.
“A couple years ago was a big change,” Veilleux recalled. “It seems like the change is bigger as you go along every year.”
The past year puts his observation into stark relief: his project list for the upcoming season is three times as long as it was last summer, up from two projects to six.
In retrospect, he thought two projects was already ambitious, so he’s not sure how his small team will be able to get four more done in the next few months.
“We turn down houses all the time,” Veilleux said.
The same is true for much larger construction projects. At the beginning of the month, Four Mile Farmstead LLC withdrew a massive application to the Kalispell Planning Board for a new 455-unit subdivision, partly because the developers couldn’t find the workforce to take on the ambitious development.
The Farmstead is one of many shovel-ready projects around the Flathead where there’s just no one available to move the dirt.
But disappointing developers isn’t the only consequence of the construction worker crunch.
The cost of land and properties is on the rise, even as affordable housing remains one of the top contributors to the lack of available workers in construction and other lines of work.
Building timelines are being pushed back, so there’s no end in sight for the valley’s tiny inventory of available homes.
And the local economy won’t be able to grow without enough workers in one of the area’s most popular businesses.
Jessie Walthers, executive director of the Flathead Building Association, said most of the organization’s members are feeling constraints on their business at a time that could otherwise be a boom for the industry.
“Some could expand their operations potentially, but are not doing that as labor is a factor,” Walthers reported in an email.
He also warned about new, unvetted construction companies moving into the area amid the busy building climate, creating added competition while potentially lowering the quality of the work itself.
Reputation and experience seem to be among the most important factors helping successful construction companies meet their staffing needs.
“I feel like we’ve got some market credibility, so people are coming to us,” said Bear Barinowski, a project manager with Malmquist Construction. “We’ve attracted a lot of good people here.”
Their Whitefish location makes it tougher to find laborers than in a more urban center, where a steady transient workforce provides a much more reliable flow of workers. But Barinowski insisted the benefits of the location outweigh the staffing challenges. With values increasing, volumes exploding and plenty of space to keep building, Barinowski sees the Flathead as a land not of scarcity, but rather, opportunity.
Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.