Earlier this year, first-year carpenter apprentice Luis Mercedes got to spend a few months helping install windows at the former Windmill Street Elementary School in Providence.
The building, which will reopen as the Narducci Learning Center, has roughly 200 windows, many of them oversized, making for a concentrated experience in installing frames.
Mercedes, 29, of Providence, says the idea of learning varied skills as a carpenter is one reason why he chose the trade.
Another was Building Futures Rhode Island Executive Director Andrew Cortes, who’d done a presentation at Rhode Island’s minimum security prison, where Mercedes was finishing up a three-year sentence.
Carpenter apprentices, along with those in every trade, are in high demand across Rhode Island and southern New England, Cortes said.
Building Futures, which prepares graduates for work in commercial and infrastructure construction, and other programs, such as Rhode Island Builders Association’s Residential Construction Workforce Partnership, are working to funnel people into the construction industry. But there are concerns that demand for skilled labor is outpacing supply.
That’s because the industry is growing, while at the same time, many tradespeople are approaching retirement age, industry leaders say.
According to a 2017 report by online trade publication Construction Dive, the Ocean State’s construction workforce is one of the nation’s oldest, with a median age of 46.
Cortes, citing labor market projections that predict a double-digit increase in Rhode Island’s construction industry employment by the end of this decade, says the time is now for pre-apprenticeship programs such as Building Futures to connect contractors and project managers with people who are interested in trade apprenticeships.
“For us, it’s a call to action,” Cortes said. “The writing was on the wall and has been for the past 30 years.”
According to the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, construction, which employs roughly 19,000 now, will increase by 16% to 22,000 jobs by 2030.
[caption id="attachment_448974" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
WINDOW WORK: Luis Mercedes, a carpenter apprentice with Chandler Architectural Products, works on installing windows at the former Windmill Street Elementary School in Providence, which will reopen as the Narducci Learning Center as part of an extensive renovation project.
PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM[/caption]
Post-pandemic investment, much of it federal and involving infrastructure, is one major factor behind the growth, Cortes noted. He added that careful placement of apprentices on a project-by-project basis will be essential to meet the demand for tradespeople.
“It’s that kind of stakeholder-based coordination – that’s what it will take to get ahead of this crisis,” he said.
Mercedes, who works for Massachusetts-based Chandler Architectural Products, is among 70 Building Futures graduates to choose an apprenticeship in carpentry.
To date, 373 Building Futures construction industry program graduates have entered an apprenticeship program, with just one trade – laborer – surpassing carpentry in total number of apprentices.
Cortes, a carpenter himself, piqued Mercedes’ interest by explaining that the trade is not limited to woodwork.
“He pointed out everything that a carpenter does. … They do floors, windows, roofs, doors, framing, there are so many things,” Mercedes said.
Carpenters, along with a long list of other tradespeople, are also in high demand on the residential side of the construction industry.
The Residential Construction Workforce Partnership, created by the Rhode Island Builders Association in 2017, has trained more than 800 people to date for work on residential projects, said RIBA CEO John Marcantonio.
Funded primarily by Real Jobs Rhode Island, the 16-week program, which focuses on minority and underserved communities, has centers in Central Falls and Coventry.
“Masons, electricians, painters, you name it, there’s a shortage of it,” Marcantonio said. Current apprenticeship programs are responding, he said, adding that it’s too early to know whether their efforts will be enough down the road.
“Collectively they’re all necessary and they’re all contributing,” Marcantonio said, pointing out that trade unions also have their own apprenticeship programs.
Brian Casey, president of Cranston-based Pariseault Builders Inc., agrees.
Like Marcantonio, he’s noticed a lack of interest in the trades among younger people, and attributes that in part to fewer students learning about such career opportunities in school.
Programs such as Building Futures and RIBA’s depend upon interest, he said.
“I want to believe that the state would respond to demand, and if there was more demand, then the state would offer more programs. If we had an additional 5,000 kids who wanted to enter the trades, I think in a few more years we could accommodate that on the programs being offered,” Casey said. If not enough apprentices are being turned out, “I don’t think it’s the fault of the programs; I think it’s just a lack of interest by the greater population,” he added.
Most of Pariseault Builders’ projects are in Rhode Island, and tend to be academic, health care and bio-tech buildings. Roughly half of the company’s employees are carpenters, and there always seems to be opportunities to take on more, Casey said.
“I can’t remember a time in my almost 20-year career where we’ve turned away a carpenter,” he said.
