Flood repairs in the wake of Hurricane Harvey have highlighted what construction industry professionals said is a critical lack of qualified construction professionals. From plumbers to electricians, a shortage of craftspeople existed before Harvey, but now the industry is struggling to meet the extra demand brought about by the storm. In Harris County, 80,000-100,000 structures were damaged by Harvey or related flooding. Fort Bend County saw more than 6,800 homes damaged, and Brazoria County saw more than 8,500 homes damaged, the counties reported. Of those in Harris County, 51,876 were private residences, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. “Prior to Harvey, there was already a shortage of trained plumbers. Not just plumbers, but all crafts across the spectrum,” said Wayne Lord, business manager for Plumbers Local Union 68. The group represents plumbers throughout the Texas Gulf Coast, including the Pearland and Friendswood area. “All Harvey did really was kind of exacerbate the shortage,” he said. Level of quality Lord and Paul Puente, executive secretary for the Houston Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council, were concerned about Harvey sending homeowners to contractors with less know-how than licensed craftspeople. Lord encourages residents to hire contractors licensed in Texas, preferably from their own communities. “You do get a lot of people that just follow disasters and not all of them are scrupulous as, you know, contractors that live here, and are part of our community,” Lord said. Lord and Puente acknowledged that union and other licensed contractors are usually more expensive to hire than unlicensed, nonunion companies, but said the adage, “You get what you pay for,” rings true. “Just like when you go to the grocery store and you have a name brand and the generic right next to it, we’re the name brand,” Puente said. Homeowners can take steps to protect themselves from less reputable contractors, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC recommends on its website that homeowners get written requests from multiple contractors, sign a contract in advance of money being exchanged and never pay in cash. Lord, Puente and the FTC said a reputable contractor will be willing to provide a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for electricians and insulation installers and the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners for plumbers. But Jeff Reina, co-owner of TriFection Remodeling and Construction, a general contractor that serves the Greater Houston area, understands that homeowners are anxious to get back to normal after the flooding. “In the short term, there’s a lot of people out there that—because they’re getting a little desperate—will start using whoever [is available] on their homes,” Lord said. “It may damage their home, which is a major investment.” Jobs, but no skilled laborers Reina said he saw his company’s workload increase overnight following Harvey. The business has a waiting list of prospective clients. “We’re a growing company, so we’re always looking for skilled labor. We’ve got a reduced ability to find skilled trade labor,” Reina said. “It was an issue, even before the hurricane.” Retiring workers, limited knowledge of the field and its pay are worsening the construction labor shortage, said Lisa Givens, Texas Workforce Commission director of communications. “Even though it may be that kids in high school think this is not a viable option, if you’re doing an apprenticeship, you’re getting paid,” Givens said. According to the TWC website, salaries for skilled construction labor at the apprentice level start at about $30,000. “I’d just say in general across our society, there has just been a shift away from vocational training in our schools,” Reina said. The skilled trades are in high demand right now, said Michelle Ramirez, the strategic planning manager at the Workforce Solutions office,  which covers the Houston-Galveston region, including the Pearland and Friendswood areas. Construction jobs make up about 7 percent of the Houston metro area’s economy, according to reports provided by Workforce Solutions. “Even the city of Houston needs craftsmen. [It is] repairing public facilities, and we know they are trying to fill at least 400 jobs,” Ramirez said. Reina said because he works for a growing company, the company is always looking for skilled labor. “It’s been an active push to build up trade schools and get more skilled labor,” he said. “It was an issue, even before [Hurricane Harvey hit].” After the storm, it became an even bigger challenge, Reina said. “Given that you have a situation with tremendously greater demand for rebuilding homes than the current supply ... there’s a meaningful shortage out there,” he said. “That’s why there are homeowners that are struggling to find contractors that are able to put their home back together anytime soon.” Recruiting challenges and tools To aid in the Harvey recovery effort, PLU 68, which represents plumbers throughout the Greater Houston area, is working with the Texas Board of Plumbing Examiners to help qualified individuals from out of state obtain temporary permits, Lord said. The challenge with temporary permitting is ensuring those receiving permits can do the work correctly, Puente said. Both PLU 68 and the council perform outreach in schools in the Greater Houston area, the goal being to get shop classes back in schools to teach the basics, Lord and Puente said. PLU 68 has a $1.9 million apprenticeship program for the Greater Houston area. The program includes classroom and hands-on work as well as building code instruction for safety reasons, Lord said. For the current semester, the union accepted about 120 out of more than 400 applicants for the apprenticeship program, Lord said. But younger applicants often cannot pass basic skills testing such as reading a measuring tape or reading basic diagrams. Puente said one of the challenges is to ensure that apprentices have a mentor, as unions maintain a ratio of no more than two apprentices per journeyman on a job site. He and Lord both said the trades have gotten a false reputation of being less respectable than a white-collar job that requires a college education. “At the moment there are not enough [construction professionals],” Puente said. “All of [the construction trades] are short-staffed because of the amount of work that’s out there and the need.”