Is it harder to find contractors? Skilled trade shortage?

[James Carollo]

As an owner of a general contracting business, I get to experience the growing shortage of trained workers on the front lines. Things have been changing. So many retiring and so little learning these trades. As a student of organizational development with an interest of economics and investing as a whole-Are you experiencing this yet? What type of investors are affected most? If you manage a rental-how do you intend to address this shortage if applicants or rising pay? I’d appreciate any feedback.

[George W.]

My opinion doing Plumbing & HVAC it's very had to find workers who know what they are doing. When you do find a worker who knows what they're doing you better be ready to pay them top dollar and offer benefits. If you can't offer a tech great pay and benefits, there's literally tons of companies that will. Then we have constantly rising costs; I looked at a utility body truck the other day that was 75k. Liability, workman's comp insurance and taxes soak up money like there's no tomorrow. 

The reason contractors in general don't want to work for investors is because they want things done for as cheap as possible and feel entitled to special treatment because they're an investor. A smart investor makes money on the purchase of the property, not on the repair work. I couldn't even tell you how many posts I see on here about people who are under contract or closing on a property and are asking how much to gut & remodel the whole house.