Resideo and Building Talent Foundation (Btf) Team Up to Help Solve Building Talent Shortage
Resideo and BTF to Help Bring 100,000 Skilled Workers into Industry by 2030
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its figures for new housing starts in the U.S., which are considered a proxy of the overall health of the U.S. economy.
For the month of March alone, the market saw more than a 30% increase1 in housing starts from a year ago, which is due in large part to low interest rates and affordability for new home buyers. While that's good news, residential new construction builders are facing a talent shortage that may impact their ability to meet demand for new homes. As of early 2020, employment in construction broadly, and residential construction specifically, had not attained pre-2008 recession levels2 with the industry needing to fill an estimated 300,000 additional new jobs by 20293.
To help alleviate this issue, Resideo recently entered into a collaboration with the Building Talent Foundation to advance the education, training and career progression of young and under-represented people, and to help them become skilled technical workers and business owners in residential construction. As part of Resideo's Impact Partnership with BTF, the company will apply its deep marketing and training resources in programs across the United States.
"This isn't an issue any of the building industry companies can solve by going it alone," said Phil Theodore, president of Products & Solutions, Resideo. "For more than three decades, Resideo has been working with builders and contractors to provide solutions that help new homeowners be safe, comfortable and secure in what is likely their largest investment, their home. We're pleased to be working with Branka and all of BTF's coalition partners to help solve these issues."
"Our vision at Building Talent Foundation is to achieve a sustainable workforce in residential construction," said Branka Minic, chief executive officer of BTF. "Resideo is a leading provider of technologies that makes homes more comfortable and secure, and their support and industry leadership will help us accelerate our expansion to additional markets, and bringing 100,000 new workers into the industry by 2030.”
As part of BTF's efforts, they recently launched JobsToBuild, a residential construction careers portal that enables construction employers the ability to connect with skilled workers. The site features an easy-to-use job search and posting capability as well as a sophisticated jobs-to-candidate matching tool to connect candidates with open roles faster and more easily, at no cost.
In addition, Phil Theodore, president of Resideo's Products & Solutions business, will join BTF's Board of Directors, and Lisa Goldson Armstrong, vice president of Global Marketing, will join their Advisory Council.
"On behalf of BTF and the Leading Builders of America (LBA), we are thrilled to welcome Phil, Lisa and the Resideo team," said Sheryl Palmer, Chairman of BTF and Chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison. "We are grateful for their support and look forward to working together to impact the lives of young people, our communities and our industry."
1 U.S. Census Bureau News Release
2 Residential Construction Employment Across States and Congressional Districts
3 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handboo