Upskilling in Construction? Try These Ebooks

When it comes to maintaining a healthy and highly skilled workforce, the construction industry is currently going through a rough patch.

This phenomenon chiefly stems from the fact that more professionals from the baby boomer generation are retiring. As a result, over 58% of respondents in the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2024 Workforce Development Survey reveal they’re experiencing a labor shortage. With experts estimating that the industry needs an additional half a million workers in 2024, many actors are working to correct the issue. The ABC’s member contractors alone are investing over $1.6 billion in training and development.

If you work in the construction industry yourself, though, why stop there? Future-proofing your skillset and making it more transferable is a great way to further your chances of career mobility amid construction’s ongoing labor shortage. Arguably, the most effective way you can do so is by reading a good ebook.

The benefits of ebooks for upskilling in construction

You may be asking: why ebooks? For one, they’re chock-full of insights. The knowledge you need to upskill in construction can often be scattered and difficult to find, especially if you’re using extensive resources like the internet. Ebooks collate everything you need to learn in a single place, concentrating on specific aspects of construction that you particularly want to know more about. Since they’re written by experts in the field, you can benefit from quality insights that can help you advance your career. More importantly, they’re accessible. Ebooks are more affordable than physical copies since you’re not paying for costs related to printing and shipping—and they can be even cheaper if you get them on a subscription plan.

That’s easily seen in the selection of technology and engineering ebooks available on Everand. On the popular ebook platform, there is a dedicated construction subsection that boasts multiple works like project planner Richard Emms’ How to Write Construction Programmes& Schedules and construction professor Jagdish Suman’s Construction Management: Principles & Practices, all of which you can read for a flat monthly fee conducive to long-term learning. You can even get ebooks for free if you have a library card. Many public libraries subscribe to the likes of Hoopla Digital’s media collection to provide content ranging from ebooks and audiobooks to documentaries and music. That means you can access over a million titles for free, including dedicated works like the collaborative Start Your Own Construction and Contracting Business and Colin Wilkinson’s Using Math in Construction.

From here, you can download these ebooks to any device, not just a dedicated e-reader—so you can easily read them on the go and even offline. That makes it a simple matter to fit upskilling via ebooks into even the most hectic work schedule. But which titles should you start with? Consider one of the following:

The best construction ebooks for upskilling

Basic Construction Management: The Superintendent’s Job

Thinking of becoming a construction manager? Learn more about the responsibilities you’ll take on—and how to do them well—with Basic Construction Management. It draws on author Leon Rogers’ years of experience as a professional builder to take you through all the essential duties of a construction manager. You’ll learn more about the work that goes into everything from construction planning and warranty work to scheduling and customer service. The ebook even comes with a companion web page that provides you with additional quality checklists and management tools you can customize to your needs, giving you better guidelines for how to complete projects well and within budget. That makes this a great read for getting a step ahead in your burgeoning construction supervision career.

The Construction Safety Guide: Injury and Illness Prevention through Design

According to the aforementioned ABC survey, safety education is currently the top priority for training programs in the construction industry. By brushing up and even improving on your own safety knowledge with The Construction Safety Guide, you can thus put yourself in a better position to stand out and potentially receive more career opportunities—and, more importantly, stay safe at work. Written by board-certified industrial hygienist and safety professional Daniel Jay Falperin, it provides a handy summary of the construction industry’s safety and regulatory standards. Falperin also shares daily safety reminders and tips for job hazard analysis that can help you be more proactive about safety when working on a project. With additional insights on ways to improve emergency planning, preparedness, and response, this ebook is an easy but excellent resource for honing your construction safety know-how—making it a great read whether you’re an employee, supervisor, or employer.

Professional Builders Secrets: How Custom Home Builders Can Sign More Contracts at Higher Margins While Delivering a Better Client Experience

Want to specialize in residential construction? This particular industry niche can be great for your career prospects—Forbes notes that employment here is growing faster than employment in nonresidential construction due to changing consumer preferences. To upskill toward this career shift, consider picking up Professional Builders Secrets. This release from Association of Professional Builders co-founders Russ and Sky Stephens goes into all the basics you need to successfully start working in residential construction. Using a linear format coupled with success stories from the authors’ clients, it offers practical advice on how to generate quality leads and recommends the best systems and processes you can use to deliver quality projects that increase sales. Give this ebook a try if you want to learn all the business tips and tricks you need to succeed in residential construction.

Handbook of Green Building Design and Construction: LEED, BREEAM, and Green Globes

No list of ebooks for upskilling is complete without an entry that helps you align your career with industry trends—and that’s what you’ll get with the Handbook of Green Building Design and Construction. Author Sam Kubba, a principal partner of the sustainable architecture firm The Consultant’s Collective, designed this ebook to be an easy-to-understand reference covering everything you need to know about green construction. That includes developing project schedules conducive to systems testing and commissioning, as well as integrating sustainable technologies into every stage of the project design and execution without compromising on building performance. Ultimately, reading this ebook can help you pick up the skills you need to take advantage of a growing green construction market—one that Coherent Market Insights reports will be worth over $692.28 billion by 2031.

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