What a short-handed crew really costs you

One empty journeyman seat on a six-man crew costs about $12,750 over eight weeks in our worked example, before you count a single bid you passed on. Pass on one $400,000 job and it's closer to $44,750. No study puts a dollar figure on an empty truck, so the math below is an example you can check and swap your own numbers into. It's common: in the AGC and NCCER 2026 survey, 42% of firms said shortages of their own or their subs' workers delayed projects.

01Short on work you've won, or work you can't chase?

Usually both, and they cost you in different ways.

When we asked one national electrical contractor whether the shortage was hurting jobs they'd already won or keeping them from chasing new ones, the answer was "I guess both at this point." That's the honest answer for a lot of shops this year.

• Work you've won costs you overtime, a slipping schedule and a nervous GC.
• Work you can't chase costs you the profit you never book, and it doesn't show up anywhere on your books.

The first one hurts this month. The second one hurts for years, because the GC who needed you goes to someone else next time. For why it's this hard to man work right now, see the 2026 electrician shortage numbers.

02A worked example: one empty seat for eight weeks

This is an example, not anyone's job cost report. Change every number to match your shop.

Say you run a crew of six journeymen on 5-8s at $45 an hour. One hand walks, and it takes eight weeks to put a productive man in his seat. The other five cover his 40 hours a week with overtime, about 8 extra hours each.

Federal law requires time and a half after 40 hours in a workweek for non-exempt employees (DOL), so each covered hour costs $67.50 instead of $45.

A few notes so the math holds up:

• The $22.50 premium is the half on top of $45. You'd have paid the straight $45 to the missing man anyway, so only the premium is extra.
• 7.65% is the employer share of Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) per the IRS. Some other costs, like unemployment tax and workers' comp, vary by state and carrier, so they're left out. Add your own.
• The $5,000 a week stands in for what it costs to keep a job open: the foreman, trailer, lifts, rental equipment and trucks. Pull yours from your estimate.
• The example assumes overtime hours are as productive as straight time. After a few weeks of 48s, they usually aren't, so treat this as the low end.

03Why the overtime number is only the start

Covering one man with OT works for a week or two, then it starts to cost you in places a spreadsheet misses.

• Tired crews make mistakes. Rework eats the hours you were trying to save.
• Your best hands carry the load. They're the ones taking calls from other shops. Burn them out and you're short two.
• The foreman stops running work and starts filling the hole himself.
• The schedule eats the float. Once your work is on the critical path, the GC is on the phone.

If the missing man walked mid-job, add the cost of refilling the seat. Our post on what it costs when a journeyman quits runs that math. Rush the refill and you can end up with a worse problem, which we cover in what a bad journeyman hire costs.

04What about liquidated damages?

If your subcontract flows down liquidated damages and your work drives a late finish, a short crew can turn into a daily charge.

Liquidated damages are a set amount per day of delay written into the contract. On federal work, the Federal Acquisition Regulation says they're used when on-time performance matters and the damage would be hard to prove, and that they "are not punitive." The rate is meant to be "a reasonable forecast of just compensation." Private contracts set their own terms.

What to do about it:

1. Read your subcontract for LDs, flow-down language and notice requirements.
2. Find out whether your scope sits on the critical path for the phase you're short in.
3. Tell the GC early, in writing, with a recovery plan (who you're adding and by when). A GC who hears about it late tends to backcharge first and talk later.

We're not lawyers. Have yours read the clause if the job carries LDs.

05The bids you pass on

Passing on a bid because you can't man it is the most expensive line and the one nobody tracks.

The worked example uses a $400,000 job at an 8% net, which is $32,000 of profit you'll never see. Your numbers may be bigger or smaller. The point is to write them down. Every time you pass on a bid or turn down a GC because of manpower, log the job size and your usual margin on that kind of work. After six months, that column is usually the biggest number on the page.

There's a slower cost too. The GC who called you and heard "we can't man it" has a new electrical sub in his phone.

06Short-handed cost vs a recruiting fee

Compare them per seat, over the life of the hand, not just this month.

Direct-hire recruiters usually charge a one-time fee figured as a percent of first-year pay. Say the fee is 20%. On our example J-man at $45 an hour for 2,080 hours ($93,600), that's $18,720. Read the agreement for what counts as pay and how long the replacement guarantee runs.

On the current job alone, running short can look cheaper than a fee. It stops looking cheaper the week you pass on a bid, or the second time a seat sits empty. And the fee is paid once, while the short-handed cost keeps running every week the seat is open, about $969 a week in OT premium and payroll tax alone in this example.

Agency cover sits in the middle. You pay a spread every hour instead of once. See how much a staffing agency marks up an electrician for that math.

If you're short now, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days. If we don't book you 5 in 14 days, you don't pay.

07Run your own number in 20 minutes

1. Count your empty seats today and how many weeks each has been empty.
2. Pull the overtime premium paid in that stretch from payroll.
3. Add the employer payroll taxes on that premium, plus your comp and unemployment rates if you know them.
4. Write down every schedule slip and what a week of time-related costs runs on that job.
5. List every bid you passed on or GC call you turned down for manpower, with size and your usual margin.
6. Divide the total by the weeks. That's what one more week short costs you.

Then put that number next to whatever you'd spend to fill the seat. Our guide to planning manpower for a job you just won helps you see the next gap before it opens.

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