As a self-performing general contractor, you've likely experienced the frustration of a key crew member being pulled off a job site due to an expired certification, causing delays, scrambling your schedule, and adding unnecessary costs to an already tight project budget.
Skilled labor is harder to come by than ever and maintaining an up-to-date, compliant workforce is essential for keeping your self-performed operations running smoothly and profitably. According to the Associated General Contractors of America's (AGC) 2025 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook, nearly 80% of firms are having a hard time finding enough workers to hire, highlighting the ongoing labor shortages that make effective training and certification management more critical than ever.
This challenge is compounded by the fact that there were 217,000 unfilled job openings in construction at the end of December, underscoring the need for strategies that not only attract talent but also ensure your existing teams are trained, certified, and ready to perform safely and efficiently.
But what if you could turn these HR hurdles into a competitive advantage? At hh2, we understand the unique demands of self-performing general contractors like you, who manage everything from field crews to back-office compliance without relying on subcontractors for core work.
Our cloud-based Human Resources solution is built specifically for construction, offering tools that centralize workforce training and certification management in one seamless platform. Automating expiration alerts for certifications, assigning mobile-accessible training modules directly to your dispersed teams, and integrating everything with your payroll system to ensure accurate compliance reporting, all while reducing administrative burdens and freeing up time for what matters most: delivering projects on time and under budget.
As noted in the AGC report mentioned above, absent new investments in construction training programs, firms will struggle to keep pace with demand. That's where hh2 steps in, helping you bridge that gap with features like real-time tracking and HIPAA-compliant storage that enhance job site safety and streamline onboarding for new hires.
In this guide, we'll explore the biggest challenges in workforce training and certification for self-performing GCs, share best practices to overcome them, and show how hh2's HR tools can transform your operations for greater efficiency and compliance. Whether you're dealing with prevailing wage requirements or union rules, discover how our integrated solutions, like those in Remote Payroll, can help you build a stronger, more reliable team. Ready to master these essentials? Let's dive in.
General contractors are no stranger to the daily grind of coordinating skilled crews across multiple job sites while ensuring everyone is trained and certified to meet strict safety and compliance standards. But in an industry plagued by persistent labor issues, these tasks can quickly become overwhelming roadblocks to project success.
Let's break down the key challenges you face, backed by real data from the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), and explore why addressing them is crucial for maintaining efficiency and avoiding costly disruptions.
The construction sector continues to grapple with a severe shortage of qualified workers, making it tougher for self-performing GCs like you to build and retain reliable teams. According to the AGC's 2025 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook, nearly 80% of firms report difficulties in finding qualified talent.
59% of respondents cite an insufficient supply of workers as a key issue, while 56% point to worker quality as a leading challenge. These shortages force you to stretch existing crews thin, often leading to rushed training or overlooked certification renewals that can delay projects and inflate costs.
Compounding this, 62% of contractors identify rising labor costs as one of their biggest concerns for the year.
You feel this pinch directly when competing for skilled tradespeople who can handle everything from heavy equipment operation to specialized safety protocols. Without robust training programs, new hires may lack the experience needed, increasing turnover and further exacerbating the cycle.
The AGC notes that more than two-thirds (69%) of contractors plan to increase their workforce in 2025 to meet demand, but with these hurdles, achieving that growth requires strategic HR tools to onboard and upskill efficiently.
For self-performing general contractors, the challenge intensifies with teams spread across remote or urban job sites, where coordinating in-person training sessions is logistically nightmarish.
How do you ensure a foreman in one location gets the same updated safety training as a crew member miles away, without pulling them off critical tasks?
Manual methods like paper-based logs or sporadic classroom sessions often fall short, leading to inconsistencies that heighten risks. This dispersion also makes it hard to track progress in real-time, resulting in overlooked skill gaps that could compromise project quality or safety.
Failing to manage certifications effectively opens the door to serious compliance risks, including fines from regulatory bodies like OSHA or issues with prevailing wage laws on government-funded projects.
The AGC highlights that 75% of firms view inexperienced skilled labor or workforce shortage as a challenge, often tied to safety and quality concerns. Without centralized tracking, expired certifications can sideline workers unexpectedly, halting self-performed work and exposing your firm to audits or legal liabilities.
For instance, government-required certifications for roles like crane operators or welders must be meticulously maintained, yet dispersed teams make manual verification prone to errors.
To illustrate the pitfalls, consider this comparison of manual versus automated approaches:
| Aspect | Manual Methods | Automated Methods (Like hh2's HR Tools) |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking Accuracy | High error rates from paper logs and spreadsheets | Real-time notifications and digital records for expiration alerts |
| Time Efficiency | Weeks spent on audits and renewals | Reduces administrative time by up to 70%, as seen with hh2's integrated payroll processing (source: https://www.hh2.com/human-resources) |
| Compliance Risk | Prone to oversights leading to fines | Ensures HIPAA-compliant storage and seamless reporting for union or prevailing wage rules |
| Field Accessibility | Limited to office-based access | Mobile app integration for on-site verification and training assignment |
These challenges directly impact your bottom line and team morale. For more on avoiding common pitfalls, check out our blog on the top HR compliance mistakes construction companies make.
In the next section, we'll cover best practices to overcome them using hh2's tailored solutions.
Overcoming the workforce challenges we've discussed requires proactive strategies that leverage technology to keep your self-performing teams compliant, skilled, and productive. As a general contractor handling your own crews, you can't afford downtime from certification lapses or inefficient training processes.
Fortunately, by adopting best practices tailored to construction's unique demands, you can minimize risks and maximize efficiency.
Below, we'll outline key steps, drawing on hh2's Human Resources features designed specifically for the industry—like automated notifications and mobile integration—to help you implement them seamlessly.
Implementing these best practices with hh2's cloud-based tools not only addresses common questions like "How do I train dispersed teams without halting work?" but also turns HR into a strategic asset.
As one customer shared:
It's been five years, and payroll hasn't been the same. hh2 does 90% of the work for us.
- Lorraine Searcy, ANCHOR 41 CONSTRUCTION
In the next section, we'll dive deeper into how hh2's HR solutions bring these practices to life for self-performing general contractors like you.
As a self-performing general contractor, you need HR solutions that go beyond basic tracking, they must integrate seamlessly with your daily operations to enhance safety, ensure compliance, and drive efficiency across dispersed job sites.
hh2's Human Resources tools are purpose-built for construction pros like you, transforming how you handle workforce training and certification management by centralizing everything in a cloud-based platform that's accessible anywhere, anytime, on any device.
One standout benefit is improved job site safety through proactive certification management. With hh2, you can easily track company and government-required employee certifications, get notified when certifications are expiring, and assign training—such as safety videos—to individuals, groups, or your entire team.
This reduces risks from lapsed credentials, helping you avoid project delays and fines while fostering a culture of compliance. Plus, HIPAA-compliant storage securely protects sensitive employee data, eliminating legal vulnerabilities and giving you peace of mind during audits.
Another game-changer is the real-time sync with payroll systems, like hh2's Remote Payroll, for accurate reporting and streamlined workflows. By tying certifications and training hours directly to payroll data, you ensure precise coding for overtime, PTO, and job-specific tasks, cutting payroll processing time by as much as 70% (https://www.hh2.com/human-resources).
This integration means less manual entry, fewer errors, and more time focused on self-performed work. You can even report on certifications, job assignments, disciplinary actions, and more, supporting better workforce planning amid industry shortages.
These tools empower you to build stronger teams, reduce administrative burdens, and stay compliant with features like mobile access for field evaluations and automated routing for approvals.
In the final section, we'll look at real-world success stories and your next steps to get started with hh2.
Seeing the impact of effective workforce training and certification management in action can make all the difference for self-performing general contractors like you, who rely on seamless HR processes to keep projects moving.
Take, for example, a construction firm that integrated hh2's Human Resources tools to overhaul their certification tracking.
By centralizing records and automating alerts, they reduced audit preparation time significantly, ensuring no more last-minute disruptions from expired credentials. This shift not only boosted compliance but also improved team morale, as workers could focus on self-performed tasks rather than paperwork.
Real users echo these benefits. This sentiment highlights how hh2's features, like mass assigning certifications and integrating with Time Tracking to cut payroll processing time by as much as 70%, deliver tangible efficiency gains for busy GCs managing their own crews.
Mastering workforce training and certification with hh2 empowers you to overcome labor challenges, enhance safety, and drive project success.
Ready to experience these benefits? Request a demo today at Request a demo and see how our HR tools can transform your operations.