Dive Brief:
- Skillit, a contech firm that claims to have the largest networks of vetted, for-hire tradesworkers in the country, has entered a partnership with DPR Construction and Suffolk Technologies, according to a Monday announcement.
- The news comes after Suffolk Technologies and WND Ventures, the venture capital arms of Suffolk Construction and DPR, respectively, made equity investments in Skillit. The firm declined to disclose the percentages or dollar value of the investments, which will add to the company’s $13.6 million total funding, per Crunchbase.
- The construction labor crisis has builders looking for answers, and some of the most prominent tech-focused firms are turning to artificial intelligence to find workers. Alongside Suffolk Technologies and DPR, Skillit has worked with Brasfield & Gorrie, Mortenson and Swinerton, according to the company’s website.
Dive Insight:
For contractors, Skillit provides a database of workers that users can now plumb with the help of AI. It shows vetted profiles quickly and helps firms scale with the goal of more hiring in mind.
Fraser Patterson, Skillit’s CEO, told Construction Dive via email that Suffolk and DPR have different scaling plans set for the firm. Boston-based Suffolk is first rolling out the tech through its self-perform company, Liberty, and then through Suffolk itself as Skillit adds to administrative roles — project managers, estimators and superintendents — on the platform.
Santa Clara, California-based DPR, meanwhile, is rolling the tech out nationally to support the contractor’s mission critical work, Patterson said.
Patterson said the generic problems faced by the industry means there’s no need to build specific solutions for the two contractors.
“That said we will work closely with their teams as we do with key accounts to have them contribute to and shape our roadmap,” he said.
Indeed, the partnership between New York City-based Skillit and the two contractors will help the firm grow its worker network, workflows, data, automation capabilities and executive team, per the announcement.
“We see the future of construction hiring as more connected, more responsive, and grounded in real jobsite needs,” said Eric Lamb, a DPR board member, in the release. “Skillit’s platform reflects that direction with its AI-powered infrastructure that helps our teams more quickly and effectively connect with talent in the skilled trades.”
The race to match skilled trades talent with jobs has intensified alongside the boom in data center construction, resulting in increasingly creative tactics to fill open positions. For example, Where Trades Go, a profile-based platform that has around 3,500 users, borrows concepts from dating apps.
For its part, Skillit has a focus on that portion of the workforce that doesn’t sit behind a desk.
“Construction’s workforce challenges require new infrastructure and smarter systems,”Jit Kee Chin, chief technology officer at Suffolk Construction and managing partner of Suffolk Technologies, said in the news release. “Skillit is addressing a critical gap in the industry with technology purpose-built for the realities of construction hiring and labor deployment.”
