Note: This article was written by levelset CEO Scott Wolfe and originally appeared in the May/June issue of the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) publication, Building Profits.
The construction industry is one of the most dangerous industries for both personal safety and business prosperity. However, industry participants – from project owners to GCs to subcontractors – have collaborated over the past several decades to improve worker safety.
As a result, worker deaths are down from about 38 per day in the 1970s to 13 per day in 2015, and worker injuries and illnesses are down from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972, to 3.0 per 100 in 2015.
While ensuring worker safety is a top priority, little action has been taken to address construction payment issues. Why is the road to payment so treacherous for contractors, and how can parties take a similar collaborative approach to improving it as they have for worker safety?