ESTERO, Fla. — Construction is booming along the Gulf Coast, with new projects creating numerous jobs, but Southwest Florida faces a potential shortage of workers due to retirements in the coming years.
Robbie Tiedeman from Manhattan Construction Company highlighted the scale of current projects, saying, “There are so many large projects larger than we’ve ever had in Southwest Florida.”
The local industry is expected to lose more than 21,000 construction workers over the next decade due to retirement. Tiedeman noted, “The market has major aviation projects, health care projects going on and all pulling at the labor force.”
At a new, high-rise luxury housing project in Lee County, Tiedeman estimated about 100 workers a day are building the Island at West Bay, a 24-floor condo building. He added, “Twenty-seven months was the overall duration on the project. And right now, we’re on schedule.”
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity projects an 11% growth in the construction job sector in Southwest Florida by 2032. Tiedeman said, “A lot of opportunities for contractors, subcontractors. The workforce right now is being supplemented from out of the area.”…