BCM Additional Labor Costs Due to Covid

BRIEF Study finds COVID-19 protocols led to a 7% loss on construction projects

By Joe Bousquin Published Aug. 11, 2020

Dive Brief:

A new study confirms and quantifies what contractors across the country already know: Implementing COVID-19 safety preparations and protocols at jobsites has led to a decline in productivity, which is eating into their profits. The report from New Horizons Foundation, the research arm of the Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), found that its members have taken a 17.9% hit to productivity since the outbreak began, resulting in a 7% financial loss, instead of profits, for the average project. It also found that over the course of an eight-hour day, the average worker lost 85 minutes dealing with COVID-19. For specialty contractors, a 10% productivity loss can lead to a 100% loss in job profitability, the report claimed, but because it can take as long as three to six months for productivity losses to show up in a company’s financial results, many contractors may not yet realize how much money they’re actually losing to COVID-19. “The magnitude of this issue represents a very real threat to a contractor’s ability to remain in business if left unmitigated,” the study's authors concluded.

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