Building at Risk: Labour Shortages Hit Both Trades and Commercial Teams in Irish Construction says ProcurePro

DUBLIN, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ireland's construction industry is facing a critical labour shortage that threatens the nation's ambitious housing and infrastructure goals. A recent ManpowerGroup Ireland Talent Shortage Survey 2025 found that 83% of Irish employers struggle to find skilled candidates, marking the most severe recruitment challenge in two decades.

This is supported by the Turner & Townsend Q1 2025 Market Intelligence Report, which reveals that 45% of construction firms are experiencing rising labour costs due to shortages. Additionally, 18% of respondents now sense a market cooling trend - reflecting cautious optimism as inflation pressures ease, with tender price inflation forecast at 3.3% for 2025.

Labour shortages extend beyond skilled trades, affecting vital procurement and commercial roles such as Quantity Surveyors and Contract Managers, who are critical for cost control, tendering to engage the supply chain, and project management. These skills gaps are impacting project timelines, budgets, and overall productivity.

Irish contractor Purcell has become the first in the country to tackle this challenge head-on by adopting digital procurement platform, ProcurePro. Outdated manual procurement processes consume significant time and resources - for a main contractor, this can amount to upwards of 40 hours per trade, across an average of 30 trades per project and 15 projects per year, exacerbating labour pressures and driving up costs. An average contractor will spend 15,000+ hours each year procuring subcontractors - a critical, but highly administrative process.

ProcurePro has saved the construction sector over 300 work years in administrative time globally, equating to approximately €15 million in labour costs saved - funds that can instead be invested in project delivery and workforce development.

"Labour and skills shortages directly impact the construction sector's ability to meet demand, and governments' efforts to address housing crises." said Alastair Blenkin, CEO of ProcurePro.

"Procurement is critical to successful project delivery, by ensuring the right subcontractors are engaged. By digitising procurement workflows, we help teams reduce administration so they can focus on the details that matter - delivering the project, maintaining quality, managing risk and protecting margins. Purcell's leadership in Ireland shows how technology can support construction teams facing labour pressures today."

As labour shortages persist, the focus is shifting from simply hiring more workers to working smarter. Digital procurement tools are increasingly essential for maintaining project momentum, improving efficiency, and safeguarding outcomes in a challenging labour market.

About ProcurePro

ProcurePro is The Procurement Software for the Construction Industry, helping Head Contractors compare, select, approve and contract Subcontractors on a single platform.

Procurement is mission-critical to the success of a project, but current methods are inefficient and expensive. ProcurePro solves this by transforming the procurement process enabling consistency, early risk identification and enhancing project profitability - double the quality while saving more than 50% of time spent procuring.

About Alastair Blenkin

Alastair Blenkin is the Founder & CEO of Australian Construction-Technology company, ProcurePro. His passion for building technology to transform industries was catalysed in the legal sector.

A former top-tier lawyer at MinterEllison, Alastair has experienced first-hand how inefficiencies cost businesses millions of dollars, with commercial construction being a stand-out. This fueled Alastair's passion for using technology to streamline processes and drive value for businesses of all sizes.

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