Laying the Foundation: How to Build a Winning Construction Team

The Building Code
A podcast by Buildertrend
Available to View on YouTube

On this episode of “The Building Code,” Zach and Charley are discussing how to find and hire top talent with Paul Sanneman, founder and president, and Ed Earl, chief operating officer, of Contractor Staffing Source. Paul and Ed are passionate about helping residential contractors find talented staff to grow their construction company. Their extensive knowledge and expertise have contributed to their company’s success as a leading recruiting service in the residential construction industry.

Tune in to the full episode to hear more about what to look for when hiring team members and how to build a company culture that people want to be a part of.

What is something that has surprised you about hiring within the construction industry?

Paul: “We found some awesome wedding planners that made killer people in the construction industry. A lot of contractors don’t think, ‘oh, I’m going to hire a wedding planner to be my office manager.’ They don’t even think that way. Jumping outside the box a little bit.”

Ed: “We started that during the pandemic because we were trying to find people. Wedding planners weren’t very busy during the pandemic. People weren’t planning weddings. We found people there. We found hotel managers that we brought in as office managers. That really broadened our perspective to realize that you don’t have to just hire from within the construction industry. Especially since the pandemic, I think it’s much easier to find related skills, but not necessarily have to have construction experience.”

What are the things you look at when assessing potential hire candidates?

Ed: “We really try to emphasize with our clients through our assessment system that we assess them much more on character, personality, temperament – who they are as opposed to what they know. Those are the kinds of skills you can develop, but if they don’t have the right work ethic, if they don’t have the right temperament, they’re not going to be good no matter what. That’s part of the way we get people to understand that’s how you really should be hiring. Not on a skills-based hiring, but really based on personality assessments and aptitudes.”

Paul: “There’s who you are and what you know. We can’t fix who you are. When we do assessments, we were able to assess through very sophisticated AI kind of things, exactly who you are – you’re honest or you’re smart. If we do that, we know who they are as a person. Now, the skills testing, whether they can lay out a foundation or not, we’re not sure. Obviously, if they’re not the right person, no matter how they lay out the foundation, if there’s not a good culture fit, it’s not going to work.”

LINKS AND MORE

Go to Contractor Staffing Source to learn more and check out their resources for building a winning team.

As home builders and residential remodelers begin to wonder what an impending economic downtown means for their business, one thing’s for certain: the more prepared you are, the more resilient you’ll be. Consider this your guide. We surveyed hundreds of home builders and spoke with economic experts for insights on where the industry stands now – and how you can be ready for whatever comes next. Read our recently published 2023 construction outlook to learn more.