...get paid a little more, but you might also have to move and work on some mega-project for years without ever meeting top management,” says Hugh McCoy, vice president of White-Spunner Construction. “In a firm like ours, the president regularly consults with project teams on all our projects, giving young people input they might never have in a giant firm.”

In California, the housing bust is having an interesting impact on people and equipment. “With the developers pulling back, a lot of the big iron is parked,” says Crawford of Sukut. He says his firm has a big presence in the housing development market, but that Sukut is now reallocating its people and resources to its public sector work. “We are doing well on that end,” he says.

Some contractors also are finding a greater availability of subs that had served the housing market and now are scrambling to find alternative work. “There are a lot of subs, particularly in California and Arizona, that are trying to make the crossover from housing to commercial,” says Bolen. He says he sees this particularly on school projects. “Where it was a struggle to get two bidders, we might get six or eight on some school jobs.”

Many contractors are working furiously to get students interested in the industry, going to colleges and high schools to stimulate interest. But Bechtel is taking a somewhat different approach. “We are focusing on K-12, but particularly on K-6 grades,” says Laspa. “We try to get kids interested in math and science at a very early age. It’s a way to bait the hook on engineering and technology for down the road.”

A big concern for many contractors is how to balance the need for people in the trades with Washington’s uncertainty on immigration policy. Makes notes that recent studies have shown that about 60% of the new workers entering the construction industry are Latino and many these are undocumented aliens. “That would mean that about a third of all new construction workers are illegal,” he says. “Could the industry cope with the loss of that many workers?”

For many contractors, immigration is an issue fraught with frustration and peril. “We are private employers, not the [Immigration and Naturalization Service]. We just want to get the work done,” says Walsh. “But the enormous shortages in the trades make an easier case to support some sort of legalized immigrant work legislation.”

Until that happens, contractors have to be very careful to follow the rules, Walsh cautions. “We had a competitor on a nearby project raided by the INS and it stripped virtually his entire workforce. So not only was he in trouble with the INS, he had no one to finish the job.”

Many contractors continue to complain about the design documents they receive. “Incomplete design? So what’s new?” asks Hunt. “The design documents you get now look like the old design development documents.”

Many contractors believe that inadequate design is not the fault of the architects and engineers. “It all starts with the architects and engineers being forced to bid work,” says Mascaro. “Being an engineer used to be a profession of respect. Now they are being treated like a commodity.” He says that the squeeze on designers is showing up in construction. “If you cut $10 on design, it will cost you $100 later on the construction side.”

An answer to this issue may be in the emergence of building information modeling systems. “When BIM was introduced, you heard a lot of people complaining: ‘Oh, no. Not another program.’ But it is a great tool for a building with a lot of systems,” says Hunt.

While many firms talk a good game on BIM, some contractors see a few hurdles to be overcome. “Designers are interested in BIM,” says Bolen. “However, their risk managers are concerned about design firm exposure, which could delay broad adoption of BIM.”

Makes says that many of the subs may be far ahead of the general contractors on the use of BIM. “They’ve been doing this for years, coordinating drawings...