Ask most people why a heavy equipment operator or pipe layer would leave a job, and they’ll say money. That makes sense, since a raise is easy to see and easy to compare. But when researchers ask the crews themselves, money keeps landing lower on the list than you’d expect.
So what actually keeps a civil construction crew together? Here’s what the research says, and what it means for anyone building or joining a team.
What workers say when you ask them
In a late-2021 Building Talent Foundation survey of nearly 1,500 construction workers, 53% said they stay because they get to develop their skills and careers. Pay and benefits came in fourth. That’s not a rounding error. It’s a different picture of what matters on a jobsite.
The same survey looked at why people think about leaving. The top answer was a lack of skills development and career advancement, cited by 31%, ahead of pay and benefits in second place.
A Hays US survey found something similar. Culture was the reason construction professionals cited most often for leaving, and culture, benefits and career growth all outweighed salary. More striking still, 65% said they’d take a pay cut for their ideal job. Would you give up money for a better crew? Apparently most people would.
Why this matters so much in Colorado
Holding on to good people isn’t a nice-to-have in this industry. Construction’s average annual turnover rate is 68.2%, and by mid-2025 nearly 9 in 10 contractors said they were struggling to fill both hourly and salaried roles.
Here at home the squeeze is real. Colorado is short more than 30,000 construction workers, with workforce needs projected to grow by as much as 32% by 2030. Job numbers have bounced around, too. The state lost about 5,100 construction jobs between June 2024 and June 2025, then added about 3,400 in the year ending May 2026.
The same ABC Rocky Mountain Chapter report puts it bluntly: field workers can easily leave for a competitor paying $2 more per hour. If pay is the only thing holding someone, it’s a thin thread.
Turnover isn’t cheap, either. One estimate says a 100-person company could spend $660,000 to $2.6 million replacing workers who quit. That’s money that could have gone into people who already know the work.
The culture signals that actually count
“Culture” can sound fuzzy, so here’s what it tends to mean in plain terms on a civil crew.
You’re learning something real
Growth is the big one, yet only 18% of construction workers strongly agree their employer invests in the skills they need to advance. That gap is an opportunity for any company willing to close it.
At Solid Earth, we cross-train our crews. Someone who knows only one task on a water line job has one path forward. Someone who understands earthwork, utilities and concrete has several, and they’re far more valuable to the whole team.
You get to work with good tools
Nobody wants to feel like they’re falling behind the industry. We made 3D machine control and GPS grading standard across our fleet in 2015. For an operator, learning that technology is a skill that travels with them for the rest of their career.
The skilled work stays in-house
When a company subs out everything interesting, crews end up doing the same narrow tasks forever. We’ve had our own self-perform concrete crew since 2009, which keeps structural concrete work in our hands. That means more variety, and more chances to build a craft.
The work gets noticed
Recognition matters more than a lot of companies admit. We were named Contractor of the Year in 2021, and we’ve received Bechtel Excellence Awards for safety and quality as a Bechtel project partner. Awards like that don’t belong to an office. They belong to the people who did the work safely and did it right.
There’s something steady underneath
Cohesion grows when people trust that the company will still be here next season. Solid Earth has been a woman-owned civil constructor in Colorado since 1996, and we landed our first municipal water and sanitary contract in 2002. That kind of continuity gives a crew room to settle in and build real camaraderie.
Don’t forget the calendar
Timing plays a part too. ADP Research found construction turnover rises to 3.69% in the summer months, compared with 3.29% the rest of the year. Summer is busy season for civil work, so that’s exactly when losing people hurts most.
The takeaway? Culture work done in the slow months pays off when the schedule gets tight. A crew that feels invested in during winter is far less likely to walk in July.
If you’re weighing a new crew
Thinking about a move yourself? Look past the hourly rate for a minute. Ask what you’d learn in your first year, what equipment you’d run, and whether people tend to stick around.
Those answers will tell you more about your next five years than a $2 bump ever could. And with the industry needing about 349,000 net new workers nationally in 2026, you’ve got real leverage to choose a place that fits.
Have a project in mind? Start the conversation with Solid Earth.
Images are presented for illustration purposes only.We use real photographs when we need to show what was happening at a real event.
About the Author: Solid Earth
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