Home Builders group says Michigan lacks builders; training program expands to recruit veterans and students
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Summary
The Home Builders Association’s Skill to Build Michigan Foundation told the House Education and Workforce Committee Michigan faces an aging builder workforce and a shortfall in single-family homebuilding; the foundation is certifying students, recruiting veterans and returning citizens, and distributing training materials and starter tool kits.
Lansing — The Home Builders Association of Michigan’s workforce arm told the House Education and Workforce Committee on Nov. 11 that an aging pool of licensed builders and insufficient recruitment threaten the state's ability to build new homes.
Dawn Crandall, executive vice president of government relations for the Home Builders Association and interim executive director of the Skill to Build Michigan Foundation, said state data show the average licensed builder is about 56 years old and that nearly half of licensees fall into an upper age range that will soon retire. "If you look at what will be aging out...it's 24,671 licensees," she said, noting about 55,000 licensees statewide and only roughly 2,400 aged 18–34.
Crandall cited single-family building-permit numbers to illustrate the long-term decline in homebuilding: "In 2005 we pulled roughly 54,000 single-family permits...in 2025 we are at 10,457 single-family permits per August," she said, adding September and October 2025 data were not yet posted. Crandall listed five drivers of housing costs — lumber/materials, lot shortage, lending, laws/regulation and labor — and said labor is the lever her organization believes it can most affect.
To address shortages, Skill to Build Michigan certifies high-school students in residential construction credentials, partners with veterans and returning-citizen vocational programs, and works with career-technical centers. Crandall said the foundation has certified nearly 500 students across 28 school programs and received a recent $5,000 grant to supply starter tool kits to certified students who gain employment.
She also described larger outreach efforts: a FY23 $2 million program to distribute Build Your Future career books to eighth- through twelfth-graders and QR-based resume-collection efforts to connect returning citizens to employers. Members of the committee praised the program and offered follow-up engagement; Representative Wilson said she would like to collaborate locally with the foundation.
Crandall cautioned there is no single fix for housing production, but said focused recruitment and credentialing efforts can help mitigate a looming labor gap. The committee took no formal action on workforce policy during the hearing and adjourned after the testimony.
