Key Considerations for Contractors Considering Taking Traveling Work

As the construction industry continues to evolve, more contractors are exploring the opportunity to take on traveling work, or jobs that require them to send crews to new markets. Whether expanding into new regions, meeting specific project demands or building a national presence, traveling work offers both significant opportunities and risks. While it can increase revenue, it also requires careful planning and strategic considerations.

There are several key factors contractors should consider when exploring or managing a traveling workforce, including aligning your travel strategy with company goals, maintaining a consistent culture across multiple locations and developing metrics to ensure success.

Make Certain That Travel Aligns with Your Company’s Strategy

Before embarking on a traveling work initiative, it is crucial that the decision aligns with your company’s overall strategic goals. Travel should not be treated as a short-term solution or an afterthought; it should be integrated into your broader strategy, with a clear vision for why it makes sense to operate outside of your home market. Contractors should assess whether expanding into new regions or taking on national projects will provide long-term benefits, such as enhancing the company’s market position or diversifying its client base.

Creating a traveling workforce should align with your company’s growth plans. This could mean pursuing higher-margin work, capitalizing on opportunities in regions with unmet demand, or developing and/or maintaining relationships with regional or national clients that can help sustain long-term success. It’s essential that contractors think beyond short-term gains and ensure that their travel strategy is part of their long-term business goals.

Ensure the Right Leaders and People Are in Place

One of the greatest challenges contractors face with traveling work is maintaining consistency in leadership and company culture. Having the right leadership team is critical. When employees are away from home, they need strong, visible leaders who provide guidance, maintain morale and keep teams connected to the company’s mission.

A few ways to implement this include:

• Assigning dedicated project managers (PMs) and project executives (PXs) who visit job sites, engage with teams and are available for support.
• Regularly recognizing and rewarding employees' contributions. Ideas include sending gift cards, acknowledging efforts in emails or offering long weekends.
• Maintaining consistent communication and working conditions no matter the location.

Employee satisfaction is paramount when managing traveling teams as these workers often face unique challenges such as being away from their families or dealing with local living conditions. Culture is reinforced through communication, consistent leadership practices and ensuring that the workplace environment feels familiar. Contractors should try to ensure that employees working remotely are still included in company-wide events such as holiday gatherings or safety meetings. Regular check-ins, face-to-face engagement and sending employees home for important life events can maintain a connection to the company’s values, no matter where they are working.

Operational Lessons Learned: Developing Your Own Traveling Model

Building a successful traveling work model requires understanding operational lessons from others in the industry. The logistics of managing a mobile workforce, whether across state lines or different time zones, can be complex.

Key operational factors to consider include:

• Paying higher wages or overtime to incentivize employees to work away from home.
• Monitoring job performance across all sites.
• Using technology to streamline communication and project management.

Contractors should avoid the temptation to cut costs by offering subpar accommodations. Providing employees with decent lodging and amenities is crucial for maintaining morale. When employees feel comfortable and appreciated, they are more likely to perform at a higher level. Additionally, making sure that traveling workers have access to reliable transportation and local support systems (such as health care) can help mitigate some of the stress associated with being away from home.

Having the right technology infrastructure is also essential for maintaining visibility into job performance and financial controls across multiple locations. Cloud-based project management platforms, mobile apps and real-time communication tools help contractors maintain consistent operations and ensure that key project details — such as budget updates, scheduling and quality control — are tracked accurately. These tools improve communication between teams and decision-makers, ensuring that all parties are on the same page regardless of location.

Moreover, contractors should adapt to local market conditions when managing a traveling workforce. Each region has its unique challenges, including varying labor availability, regulations or weather conditions. It’s essential to tailor operational approaches based on these local factors. By understanding and planning for these regional differences, contractors can better manage their resources, avoid compliance issues and ensure smooth operations.

Getting it Right

One FMI client, a mid-sized, employee-owned heavy-civil firm, has woven travel into its DNA, and it shows. Leaders don’t just issue directives. They’ve lived the life of a traveler, logging week after week in hotel rooms so they can truly support crews on the road. At every remote site, supers are empowered and have the budget to host end-of-week BBQs, fishing excursions or group dinners with their teams, ensuring employees are rewarded for their efforts and have a chance to bond off the job site.

The company also pays attention to accommodations. Everyone enjoys single-occupancy rooms, an elevated per-diem and regular rotations home. Because every employee holds an owner’s stake, crews buy into even the toughest projects, such as a recent five-week, around-the-clock job that was two hours away. After delivering a profitable and on-time project, the leadership team, recognizing their shared success, distributed bonuses to laborers, foremen and supers, reinforcing their commitment to travel as part of their culture and the benefits it affords the organization.

Takeaway: Travel isn’t just a means to an end. It’s ingrained in the company and its culture. When an organization makes executing travelling work part of its identity and invests in supporting its employees, crews don’t just execute work; they own the outcomes.

Contractors exploring traveling work can reap the rewards of expanded opportunities, but success hinges on careful planning, strategic alignment and the ability to effectively manage remote teams. The key to overcoming challenges lies in ensuring that travel is aligned with company goals, the right leaders are in place and operational best practices are followed.