Description of the blog
Bottom line for employers: On September 2, 2026, Associated Builders and Contractors and the Simplar Foundation released the first national field study of multiskilling in U.S. construction. Multiskilled crews put 39% more time into direct construction work, cut idle time 68%, and covered with 10 workers what single-trade crews needed 14 to 17 workers to cover. The productivity argument is the good news. The compliance argument is not. Every hour a worker spends outside his primary trade is an hour that Davis-Bacon, the FLSA, and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation will classify for you—at the highest rate—if your records do not classify it first. What the Research Found The Simplar Foundation, with researchers from the University of Kansas, Arizona State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, published four reports on September 2, 2026, with two more due in the coming months. The field work was real, not modeled: 40 site visits to 36 projects across 24 states and 22 project types, 60 multiskilled crews totaling 644 workers at 30 contractors, and more than 11,400 work-sampling observations. Workers spent 36% of their time outside their primary trade across 128 distinct trade combinations. Measured against a single-trade counterfactual applied to the same observed work sequences, direct work time rose 39% and idle time fell 68%, both at a 99% confidence level, and covering the same scope without multiskilling would have taken 45% to 72% more workers. Participating contractors reported a 0.74 total recordable incident rate across 33.2 million work hours, 57% below benchmark. Why This Matters for Merit Shop Contractors Multiskilling is not a productivity tactic that happens to suit the merit shop. It is the merit shop. A contractor that advances workers on ability rather than craft jurisdiction can put a qualified worker on the next task in front of him. A contractor bound by jurisdictional work rules cannot, and there is now peer-reviewed field data putting a number on what that costs. Principal investigator Dr. Brian Lines described a Midwest data center where an electrical contractor was barred by work rules from offloading skids it had prefabricated in its own shop—crews waited on a handoff that served nothing except the rule itself. That research is evidence you can put in front of an owner, a contracting officer, or a court. Use it. But understand what you are also putting in front of a Wage and Hour investigator: a peer- reviewed statement that a third of your workers' hours fall outside their primary classification. Three Places Multiskilling Creates Real Exposure Federal and federally assisted work: split classifications or pay the top rate. Under 29 C.F.R. § 5.5(a)(1)(i), a laborer or mechanic who performs work in more than one classification "may be compensated at the rate specified for each classification for the time actually worked therein"— but only "Provided, that the employer's payroll records accurately set forth the time spent in each classification in which work is performed." Miss that proviso and the whole day gets paid at the higher rate, with back wages and interest. Weekly certified payrolls under § 5.5(a)(3) must show each worker's "correct classification(s) of work actually performed" and daily and weekly hours. The June 2026 order from the Northern District of Texas narrowed the 2023 Davis-Bacon rule only as to offsite facilities, delivery drivers, and retroactivity. Certified payroll, apprentice ratios, and fringe crediting are untouched. Overtime: the regular rate is a weighted average, not the last rate worked. If your multiskilled workers earn different rates for different work—and if they do not, you are underpaying your best people—29 C.F.R. § 778.115 controls: "Where an employee in a single workweek works at two or more different types of work for which different non-overtime rates of pay . . . have been established, his regular rate for that week is the weighted average of such rates." Paying overtime at whatever rate the worker happened to be earning at hour 41 is a violation, and it multiplies across a crew, a season, and a two-year limitations period. The § 7(g)(2) alternative is available, but only under an agreement reached with the employee before the work is performed. Ohio workers' compensation: no records, highest-rated classification. Ohio Adm.Code 4123- 17-08(G) lets you divide one employee's payroll across manual classifications, but the rule is unforgiving: records "must reflect actual time spent working within each job classification," and "[e]stimated or percentage allocation of payroll is not permitted." If the records do not show actual payroll by classification, "the entire payroll of the individual employee must be assigned to the highest rated classification that represents any part of his or her work." On a crew of multiskilled electricians and instrumentation techs, that is a premium swing you will feel at true-up and again in your experience modifier. Licensing and Safety: Where the Trap Is Quieter Ohio licenses contractors, not journeymen. Under R.C. Chapter 4740, the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board licenses an individual as an electrical, plumbing, HVAC, hydronics, or refrigeration contractor; the "tradespersons" that contractor employs need no individual state license. Ohio therefore gives you more room to multiskill in the field than states that license individual journeymen. That advantage stops at the municipal line and at the state border confirm local registration and permit rules before you cross-task, and do not assume an Ohio staffing model travels to Michigan or West Virginia. OSHA training follows the worker, not the job title. Section 1926.21(b)(2) requires the employer to "instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to his work environment." A multiskilled worker has several work environments. The study documented the practice that satisfies this: crafts broken into discrete tasks, each worker competency-tested per task, proficiency verified before release to the field. Keep those records—per-task training and consistent enforcement are also elements of the unpreventable employee misconduct defense. The Policy Fight Is Not Over Government-mandated project labor agreements remain the single largest legal obstacle to the productivity this research documents. Executive Order 14063 and FAR Subpart 22.5 still require a PLA on direct federal construction projects estimated at $35 million or more, and on April 21, 2026, the Eleventh Circuit declined to enjoin the mandate in ABC's challenge. MVL USA gave relief limited to the specific procurements at issue. Assume the mandate applies. Assume it, and then attack it project by project. FAR 22.504(d)(1) lets a senior procurement executive except a project when a PLA "would not advance the Federal Government's interests in achieving economy and efficiency," or when market research shows a PLA "would substantially reduce the number of potential offerors." Those exceptions have always been argued on assertion. They can now be argued on peer-reviewed national field data. Exceptions must be granted by the solicitation date, so the time to make the record is before the solicitation issues, not after you lose the bid. What Contractors Should Do Now
Bottom Line ABC and Simplar just handed merit shops their best evidence yet that multiskilling builds faster, safer, and with fewer people—and that the rules restricting it cost owners and taxpayers real money. Use it. But the same research tells every regulator that a third of your workers' hours cross classification lines. The contractors who win are the ones whose records prove which hour went where. If you want your timekeeping, certified payrolls, and craft-qualification records pressure- tested before your next prevailing wage audit or federal bid, we are ready to help. Reach out anytime. Matt Austin Matt Austin Labor Law 614.843.3041 | [email protected]
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