The pandemic prompted a flurry of relocation activity in the United States, which continued through 2023. While urban counties in California, Illinois and New York noted the greatest population losses, areas in Florida, Texas, Arizona and South Carolina made the top 10 for population gains in 2023, according to the U.S. Census.

The most magnetic counties noted annual population gains ranging from 15,000 to 26,000 for 2022 and 2023, and, in many cases, for 2021.

For contractors serving these areas, business has been brisk but not without challenges.

Florida tackles increases in population and projects

“There’s been substantial growth in Florida for the last three years, all counties in both NECA jurisdictions we cover,” said Kenny Wooton, executive manager for NECA’s Florida West Coast and Central Florida chapters. “I’ve been struggling to get industrial space for the contractors. They’re growing out of space because demand is so high.”

Hot spots for population gains include Polk County, located in the middle of the state; Pasco County, on the west coast near Tampa; and Marion County, south of Gainesville.

One explanation for the influx is that, although home prices in Florida are rising, as elsewhere, property taxes remain low. Wooton also believes Florida’s public policies may have prevented more local businesses from losing traction in the wake of the pandemic.

Though Polk County ranked No. 1 in the nation for inbound residents, Wooton sees it as an undeveloped area supporting residences but not yet offering a great deal of commercial work. Pasco County and the Tampa area are, however, seeing plenty of commercial projects, as is Orange County, home to Orlando, Wooton said.

“In Orange County, they’re constructing hospitals, high-rises [and] a theme park, which is an aspect of Universal Studios in Orlando,” Wooton said. “I have a chapter office in Hillsborough County, which is Tampa. There’s a ton of growth in both counties. A good number of retirees are coming from the Northeast or out West. Big firms from Texas, New York and New Jersey are coming here too. Also, a ton of remote workers are moving here to avoid state income taxes.”

“As far as Central Florida and the west coast/Tampa area, construction is happening everywhere,” said Douglas Carter, president of Carter Electric Inc., Apopka, Fla. “We are working on a new theme park project and have been since 2019, and we are doing a lot of theme park work in general.”

Carter Electric is working on renovation projects at resort hotels and constructing a new fire station. 

“We also have a lot of road work projects going on or upcoming, just a wide range of work and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon,” Carter said.

 Carter Electric’s services cover medium-voltage underground infrastructure, DOT, roadway lighting, government, commercial construction and renovation, theme parks, wastewater treatment plants, data centers and maintenance.

“Basically, we are working on projects in all of the fields,” he said.

That includes projects for a major pharmaceutical distribution center and a new ride attraction at a theme park in Tampa.

With Giles Electric Co. Inc. in South Daytona, Carter Electric performs work for Tampa’s school system, one of the largest in the country.

Carter praised state and local government efforts to attract more high-tech enterprises such as NeoCity, which has been under construction for several years.

“SpaceX is also doing a lot of construction,” Carter said. “We are doing several projects for them but nothing major yet.”

As elsewhere, contractors in Florida have had to contend with rising vehicle insurance rates, Wooton said. To keep rates in check, several have tightened already stringent safety policies and made use of GPS tracking and driver-monitoring equipment.

Recruiting efforts

Beyond these challenges is an unrelenting need for manpower.

In the Tampa area, they have done a good job of maintaining workforce, Wooton and Carter said. But they anticipate the possibility of labor shortages in the not-too-distant future.

To avoid that circumstance, the Florida West Coast and Central Florida chapters are bearing down on apprentice recruitment efforts.

“Besides participating in lots of job fairs and online marketing, we contracted with an organization that does geomapping, targeting large populations,” Wooton said. The marketing firm saturates local markets through radio and TV ads and social media.

“We’ve found that in order to get prospective apprentices to show up to a job fair or the union hall, we have to have touched them several times,” Wooton said. “It takes three to four times to get their attention.”

The chapters are also targeting a more diverse audience, with multicultural English/Spanish marketing campaigns aimed at men and women.

“We approach high schools and have booths at their job fairs,” Wooton said. “We also maintain preapprenticeship programs.”

To prevent manpower shortages in the short term, Carter and other Florida West Coast and Central Florida chapter members rely on construction wireman/construction electrician (CW/CE) designations and unindentured apprentices.

Texas pioneers workforce solutions

Those job classifications owe their beginnings to the Central Texas NECA Chapter and IBEW Local Union 520, whose markets are booming.

“Years ago, we developed the unindentured apprentice and intermediate journeyman classification to bolster our workforce and our apprentice-to-­journeyman pipeline,” said Joel Cochren, executive manager for NECA’s Central Texas Chapter. “It’s been successful since 1999.”

Five counties in central and southeast Texas made the U.S. Census list of the top 10 counties with positive net domestic migration in 2023. They were Montgomery County, north of Houston; Collin County, just north of Dallas; Denton County, north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area; Williamson County, near Austin; and Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston.

Project opportunities in these areas have come from Samsung and Meta data centers, solar farms, electric vehicle charging equipment installations, expansion of school districts and hospitals.

“Contractors will turn down work to avoid liquidated damages that could result from not having the manpower to meet construction timelines,” Cochren said. So, this arrangement “is not perfect, but it has filled some gaps.”

For the Southeast Texas NECA chapter, CW/CEs work well for solar installations and EV charging station work, said Vicky Hernandez, the chapter’s membership services manager.

“One of our NECA members has said once they [the CW/CEs] are trained for solar work, they can continue this type of work with other companies,” Hernandez said.

The ratio of journeymen to CW/CEs tends to be lower with repetitive jobs related to solar and EV installations. But greater numbers of more highly skilled journeymen are needed for medical, hospital and high-tech installations.

CW/CEs are tested to determine their progression along the apprentice scale, and electrical contractors pay them accordingly. Relying on CW/CEs is not a preferred strategy, Cochren said, but it’s happening amid intensified apprentice recruitment efforts.

The Central Texas Chapter recruits heavily at job fairs and cosponsors a youth apprenticeship program with the Texas Workforce Commission’s Workforce Solutions Capital Area and Region 13. The program targets students in three high school districts.

“Getting this younger group isn’t going to yield apprentices and journeymen right away,” Cochren said, adding that he’s hopeful at seeing signs that more young people are considering careers in the trades, referring to a Wall Street Journal article, “How Gen Z is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation,” published in April. According to the article, the ranks of students studying construction trades rose 23% last year.

The Brandt Cos. LLC, Carrollton, Texas, a mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractor, uses CW/CEs, but only for around 10% of its electrician workforce. That’s mostly because the projects it handles call for highly skilled electricians.

The company employs a workforce of 2,200, which includes 300 electricians and apprentices working out of Houston, Carrollton (in the Dallas-Fort Worth area), San Antonio and Pflugerville (near Austin).

Among other things, Brandt’s projects included data centers and healthcare centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as state and private universities including Texas A&M, Rice University, the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University and others.

As in Florida, many see state and local governments as having worked diligently to attract and support high-tech employers. In Texas, this includes companies like Samsung, SpaceX and Texas Instruments.

“These big projects are good for the economy and the people, but they have made it challenging for owners and contractors as far as staffing in the last five years,” said Brian Walsh, senior vice president and Houston general manager for the Brandt Cos.

Foremen are a priority

Besides securing the right workers, employing quality foremen may be the most important factor in determining success when taking on complex projects in high-growth environments. 

“Foreman succession and development should be a priority strategy for every NECA chapter and IBEW local union in the country,” Cochren said.

Fortunately for Texas, the “foremen development series” is now managed from Austin. With 12 three-hour classes and four advanced modules, it’s considered among the most successful in the nation for training journeymen to become foremen.

carter electric inc. / stock.adobe.com / Ema