According to HousingWire and a new study from the National Kitchen & Bath Association, the kitchen and bath remodeling sector is still wrestling with skilled labor problems, even though the worst shortages have eased a bit. The survey looked at more than 500 professionals across the U.S. and Canada and found that while fewer companies are reporting severe shortages compared to a couple years ago, the problem is actually spreading wider across the industry. It's become more of an industry-wide issue rather than something affecting just a handful of firms.
The real trouble shows up in the work that's not getting done. Nearly half of the companies surveyed said they're actually turning away projects because they don't have enough skilled installers and carpenters available. When you can't staff your jobs, you can't grow your business. General contractors and custom builders are competing with each other for the same small pool of experienced tradespeople, which drives up labor costs and forces some firms to walk away from work they'd normally take.
The shortage is creating what you might call a talent pipeline crisis. The survey respondents said the biggest barriers to hiring are a limited pool of applicants and workers who lack the technical skills needed for the job. Installers and carpenters remain the hardest positions to fill, which makes sense because these are the most demanding and detail-oriented roles in kitchen and bath work. The industry leaders in the study overwhelmingly agree that exposure to the trades needs to start much earlier, ideally in middle or high school, so young people can see these as viable career paths.
The NKBA is pushing for better programs to get businesses involved in training the next generation, noting that many companies want to help but don't have the resources to build those programs from scratch. The fundamental issue is that the residential building sector has been struggling for years to replace retiring tradespeople, and we're just not bringing in enough new talent to fill those gaps.
What I am seeing locally in the Bay Area and East Bay is that homeowners and builders who understand this labor reality are planning more carefully around project timelines and costs. If you're thinking about a kitchen or bath remodel, it's worth having that conversation with your contractor about realistic timelines now rather than being surprised later when labor isn't available. For sellers, a quality kitchen or bath is still important for value, but the cost and timeline expectations need to be grounded in the real labor constraints our region is facing.
