Upstate South Carolina continues to see a steady demand for commercial real estate construction.
Projects ranging from small mixed-use developments to large industrial facilities are underway or planned across the region. Kyle Snipes, vice president of strategic development at Caldwell Constructors, explained the construction demand reflects the consistent population growth and economic investment in the area.
Due to the region’s development activity, the local construction-labor market is highly competitive. Bryan Royal, executive vice president of Harper General Contractors, said the shortage of skilled tradespeople remains one of the industry’s greatest challenges.
A key contributing factor to the shrinking labor pool is the number of skilled workers retiring from the field. Snipes explained that the volume of people leaving the workforce appears to be higher than the number of new candidates coming in.
Shrinking labor pool
Construction-labor constraints are not isolated to Upstate South Carolina. According to Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction industry trade association, approximately 439,000 new workers will need to be hired this year to meet the nationwide demand for construction services. An additional 499,000 workers are estimated to be needed in 2026.
Steve Foushee, vice president of project management at Prescott and Foushee Construction, said construction companies are challenged to figure out how to shore up their labor force. He explained that some subcontractors increase labor costs in response to the market while others attempt to maintain their rates to get projects under contract.
“I would say there’s probably 60% increasing their labor costs and 40% trying to keep it where it is, to be aggressive just to build some backlog and some stability,” Foushee said.
Scout Mechanical, a Greenville-based services company, continues to focus on building its team of skilled trade professionals. One of the company’s strategies is to recruit workers from out of state. Paul Halphan, vice president of Scout Mechanical’s contract division, explained that approximately one-third of the company’s 56 employees are from outside the region.
“I think we have more projects than we have people coming into town and people joining the trade,” Halphan said. “There’s just more work than we can get to, so a lot of the efforts the state’s doing, the region’s doing about attracting people here, I think that’s just the key.”
Construction companies are also seeing a need for experienced individuals to fill project-management and field-leadership positions. Snipes explained that while Caldwell Constructors has a solid core team, growing new talent internally is a necessity. The company oftentimes finds new candidates through referrals, trusted recruiters and cold calls.
Harper General Contractors’ recruitment efforts also include partnering with vocational programs, trade and technical schools, and engineering and construction-management programs to find new talent. Royal said he’s seen strong results in recruiting talent through the company’s in-house internship and co-op program, which currently includes over 50 participants.
“It’s been an important pipeline for developing talent and helping meet the region’s growing demand for construction services,” Royal said.
Nationwide construction jobs trend
439,000 net-new construction workers are needed in 2025 nationwide.
499,000 new construction workers are needed in 2026 as spending picks up as a result of anticipated lower interest rates.
Source: Associated Builders and Contractors
Age gap
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of construction workers in the country is 42. Steve Foushee, vice president of project management at Prescott and Foushee Construction, said the average median age has been trending lower as younger generations enter the workforce.
“What we’re finding is that with the younger workforce coming in, there’s a large labor gap between experience,” Foushee said. “We have some really young people coming into the industry that have not been around construction and we have to watch very carefully safety surrounding that workforce. Construction is, by virtue what we do, it can be dangerous.”
By the numbers
Approximately 35,113 people are employed in the construction industry in Upstate South Carolina.
$85,109 is the average annual wage in the construction industry in Upstate South Carolina.
