I have often struggled with training programs for young carpenters.  As a laborer as a kid, I did the basic grunt work first, then got trusted with a hammer, then eventually was taught the finer points of building things.  The nature of the industry and the mobility of employees has put much of this informal apprenticeship training aside.  As managers, we lament the days of the talented carpenter that could build a project from A to B, but we fail to set aside quality training time to grow the next generation of these talented folks.  We assume that our employees won’t be here in a couple of years, so we don’t invest in developing them as builders and managers.  We quickly assume that they will head for greener pastures when the two dollar an hour (temporary) raise comes knocking.  We guarantee it when our organizations aren’t far-sighted enough to provide the pastureland for our staffs to grow into what they want to become.

As a small general contractor, I struggle with trades staffing needs.  I prefer to do as much of the work as I can in-house for both quality assurance and scheduling reasons.  But, unless these tradespeople are generalists in the sense that they can frame one week, drywall the next and run quality trim the week after that, I struggle to keep them busy.  This situation occurs countless times in construction companies everywhere.

Currently, I am internally debating  and leaning towards working with a local union for construction trades people more and more.  The benefits are obvious - fixed labor/hour costs, ample supply of personnel and, the most important aspects of all to me - apprenticeship training and continuing education.  Along with this is the ability to staff according to actual project needs and not projections.

The potential downsides that I see are a lack of ownership in the project (Doesn’t seem much different than a subcontract perspective); higher dollar per hour costs along with workplace continuity and how that would effect my clients.  I also worry about unionized workers giving non-unionized subs a tough time and vice versa.  Operating in a right to work state should quell this worry, but it is still a concern.

I would love to hear from any of you that have made the switch to union labor.  I would enjoy hearing the success stories and the horror stories.  In an effort to continuously grow both my organization and to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace, I have to reach out beyond my comfort zone a bit.  But, on paper, a well trained on-staff project management team provided with the ability to draw highly trained carpentry labor seems like a win/win and another tool to become more efficient. 

Aside from a political argument, which I have no desire to entertain here, have any of you found that using union trades (carpentry) labor has been beneficial to your organizaton?  Have any of you found it not to be?