The Smart Buildings Labor Shortage Is Real—Here’s How to Fix It

Buildings account for more than 50% of electricity demand and 40% of carbon emissions worldwide. The smart buildings industry is the group approaching these issues head on. We see it daily within our community: building owners willing to be early adopters and take a leap on new tech, technology vendors saving energy and improving operations through revolutionary products, and service providers accepting the challenges of finding and implementing the right solutions.

But we have a major problem: we don’t have enough skilled labor to sustain it.

As a microcosm, let’s look at the role of HVAC technicians. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 415,000 HVAC technician jobs in the US market and 37,000 open positions each year, with a growth rate of 6% of open positions yearly. This is nearly double the growth of other industries, and some estimate that one in four open positions will likely not be filled.

While those of us in the smart building industry often feel we’re competing against one another for market share and talent, the reality is that our biggest obstacle is shared — collaboration on attracting and retaining talent within our industry is critical to future success. Regarding new talent, our biggest competitors aren’t each other; it’s other industries.

We discussed this challenge with industry vets to see what is being done and what can be done. Nick Gayeski, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Clockworks Analytics, Lawrence Trifiletti, Operations for the controls branch of LONG Building Technologies, and Lewis Martin, Founder of the boutique smart buildings recruiting firm LMC, shared their experience and advice on our labor shortage.

The Skills Gap: What Are We Missing?

Historically, the building technology industry has been a spattering of siloed professions. 

• Mechanical technicians, colloquially referred to as “pipe fitters” and “tin benders,” did just that: mechanical-heavy work to make HVAC systems operate.
• IT professionals, known for their pocket protectors, handled networking and computers within the building, rarely including any of the OT systems that operate the building.
• Energy engineers spent thousands of hours optimizing system performance through deep data analysis, audits, and organic strategy creation.

Today, these three positions (and many others) have merged. As the digital world has grown, mechanical devices are cloud-connected information producers. Professional services have become more reliant on the data from those systems, making the ideal background for a building technician a hybrid of all the skillsets. This transition in our industry is often summarized as the convergence of IT and OT: our operational technologies are becoming as cloud-connected and analytical as our informational technologies already were.

Additionally, the software applications we have developed help automate tasks to make people more efficient. That has moved many of the job requirements up the technology stack. For example, while more people used to be needed for physical maintenance tasks, now many of those roles are elevated to professionals responsible for managing the applications (like FDD) that optimize the maintenance schedule.

And to take it even further, with more jobs reliant on software applications within the building, change management has become even more important. Trifiletti noted, “The service we provide to building owners has changed, and so have the expectations for our technicians. They can’t just do a checklist anymore; they need to be consultative, able to explain findings, and work across disciplines.” Soft skills like describing an application's value and persuading people to use and trust it have become important. While nerdy IT folks and handy MEP folks used to play behind the scenes, their jobs now require more communication skills to support change management and the integrations between disparate systems.

So, what are we left with? A unicorn: someone who can do a little bit of everything.

It’s not as impossible as it sounds. Gayeski mentioned, “The people who can cross those bridges often came up from one area of the industry—whether it’s BAS programming, HVAC, or energy engineering—but have learned enough to lead with ideas on how to make things better in buildings.” We also benefit from the newer generation of the workforce growing up in a tech-centric world. The basics of networking and data analysis are second nature for them. However, communication skills and mechanical aptitude are as difficult to obtain as ever.

Why Aren’t People Joining this Industry?

Despite the industry’s ever-growing technical nature, it is often perceived as old and outdated. HVAC, building automation, and energy management are often perceived as old-school trades. This is partly due to buildings being extremely capital-intensive, which causes things to move slowly and hinders the adoption of new technologies.

Yet the largest untapped opportunity in the smart buildings industry is increasing representation among women, who comprise less than 10% of the workforce. Regardless of hiring philosophy, attracting more young women to the industry would significantly expand the available talent pool, bringing diverse perspectives and skills that drive innovation and growth.

Solving the Talent Crisis: What Can Companies Do?

Lewis Martin, Nick Gayeski, and Lawrence Trifiletti all referred to a new type of marketing that isn’t often considered: employer branding. As Martin put it, “Companies need to transition their marketing strategy for new customers into a strategy for attracting new talent.” 

Gen X and Gen Z strive for personal fulfillment in their careers more than previous generations, indicating that working for a mission-driven company is increasingly attractive.

Many companies in the smart buildings space are here because they are on missions to improve the world by fighting climate change. Companies must recognize and act on the importance of promoting this mission and the other attributes that make working there worthwhile. Gayeski emphasized this: “Marketing this industry needs to draw people to it. We need to communicate the opportunity for people who could be interested—whether it’s job stability, innovation, or mission-driven work. If we get better at that, we’ll attract the workforce we desperately need.”

For an example of employer branding, check out this video on why Clockworks Analytics is a great place to work.

Beyond employer branding, companies must recognize that improving the talent pool starts locally. Organizations like Stacks + Joules, an NYC-based nonprofit that builds technician-related learning programs, are shining examples of locally introducing young talent to an industry they may not have been aware of. Companies can partner with trade schools, universities, and local STEM programs to introduce students to smart buildings early.

The beauty of increasing the talent pool is that it turns vendors and service providers who may consider themselves competitors into collaborators. We all need new talent, and it’s up to us to market the smart buildings industry as a fulfilling career opportunity.

At Nexus Labs, we’re on the front line of strengthening this industry for the future. We believe that real progress happens when collaboration outweighs competition. While the day-to-day business of smart buildings can feel fragmented, NexusCon reminds us that we’re all working toward a common goal: digitizing and decarbonizing the built environment. By bringing together the best minds in the industry, we aim to grow this community, share knowledge, and accelerate the impact we can achieve together.

Go deeper by listening to the full podcast interview here

Need help hiring smart building unicorns? Check out LMC’s hiring services here

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