Labor is your largest risk—and greatest lever—in delivering profitable construction projects. In this session, we’ll explore how NECA contractors can gain a competitive edge through proactive workforce planning. This goes beyond scheduling: strategic labor forecasting helps contractors align labor demand with WIP and backlog health, drive margin predictability, and reduce field disruptions. We’ll walk through how top-performing contractors are modeling labor capacity from pre-construction through project closeout, and how to measure planning effectiveness with key performance indicators. Real-world examples and forecasting tools will be shared.
Learning Objectives
- Understand why accurate labor forecasting directly impacts margin—not just scheduling outcomes
- Learn to align labor planning with WIP and backlog for more reliable execution
- Improve handoffs from pre-construction to field teams for better workforce continuity
- See what best-in-class forecasting tools and workflows look like in practice
- Identify and apply KPIs like % of planned vs. actual labor to measure planning success