The construction In Spain it is in a crisis regarding the search for personnel. Although, according to Eurostat data, our country is at the head of Europe with a year-on-year increase of 31.4%, the reality is that finding qualified personnel has become a truly impossible mission. The reason? Low salaries in the face of highly sacrificed work mean that there is increasingly less generational change. This without taking into account that the salary difference between categories further reduces interest in this profession.
Cristian Lara is a bricklayer and boss in a construction company with his partner Anabel and they explain to the podcast “Trades Sector“the problem of finding young talent. This added to other “not visible” problems within construction such as the wage gap or how this feeds the demotivation of those who pull the wagon.
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How much should bricklayers charge?
For Cristian, the small salary difference between two categories discourages responsibility. “I cannot allow a first-class officer to be charging 1,700 euros and the laborer is charging 1,500, almost 1,600; only 100 euros difference.” That minimum margin, he denounces, “burns” the official responsible for carrying out the work, coordinating others and responding to the client. For him, recognition has to be consistent with the job and real performance.
To face this problem and have his workers motivated, he explains that the objective is that the agreed salary “about 1,800 clean euros” does not stop there; With overtime and supplements they try to push “up to 2,400 euros.” Even so, he emphasizes that “right now, a professional who can do the job well, explain the job to you and get it done for you, should be charging 2,800 euros per month.” The problem, he emphasizes, is not to pay more to those who are worth it, but to find it.
Lack of qualified personnel
Cristian admits that “today it is difficult to find a very good pawn… of the last ten, I have one left.” The complaint is not random and yes, from own experience and speaks of works in inhabited homes, where trust is as important as technique. “We put people in family homes; they have to be trustworthy. It doesn’t help me that someone is more with their cell phone than with a trowel.”
For this reason, he explains that it forces him to combine staff with self-employed workers, where he admits “it is more profitable”, since billing is simpler and simpler and so as not to depend on whether “someone is late, catches a caravan or does not show up”.
The problem in finding workers is not only in the shortage, but also in the employment platforms. “With portals, failure; word of mouth is what works best,” he explains, where he assures that he has found the best workers.
When it comes to choosing between hiring workers or freelancers, he explains that maintaining a staff increases costs, since they are expensive extra hours, contributions, insurance, although it also has its positive side, there is more control. “I like to take on a project and not depend on whether the freelancer can come.”
For subway jobs, the freelancer fits; for a ‘turnkey’ reform, the company responds. And there the principle returns: “I cannot allow the officer to earn like the laborer.” If the job demands more, so does the salary.