How to handle ramp up of human resources

You're Welcome Bala.

Exactly and this is why I stressed that the PM & HR Manager need to always make sure that the resources are valid amd available to they dont fall into any unexpected risks.

Michael, we usually have a histogram, resource calender and staffing management plan which includes all Human Resources (Numbers, Trades, Hiring Resource, Dates Required) so we don't get surprised by nit finding a certain trade when required. You can't train people from scratch on the job if they do not have the trade skill basics, as you said, it is an investment on time and time is of essence in projects besides that you have to consider Safety issues that might arise. What strategy did you use while you were working in construction ?

I was not in management. I was a crew lead. But on one project, which was apparently complex, I was assigned a crew of laborers, none of them even understood how to read the fractions on a tape measure. The project was to build six foot tall by three and a half inch thick concrete forms on specific radius. I knew how I would go about that task (with lots of math), but I couldn't imagine how to have my crew do it.

I got them all started cleaning and prepping the site, while I walked and thought the problem through. Ultimately, I created a template which allowed my crew to cut wales on the correct radius. We screwed the sheathing to the wales, and constructed the form. It was perfect.

While I had crew members cutting wales, I took one with me (on an alternating basis) and taught them how to read a tape measure, how to cut on the correct side of a line they drew to ensure their measured length was correct, how to hold and swing a hammer. At the end of the project all of my crew were promoted from laborers to entry level carpenters, and it paid off a month later, when we needed carpenters to gang up on a major form that was sixteen feet high, by forty feet long and on a 120 foot radius.

I guess, from my perspective, we ought always be developing our crew, so that they can take our positions when we are promoted.

I guess if I had to do this on a large scale for a major portion of work that would require dozens of skilled laborers, I'd increase the labor pool early, and team all the laborers up with carpenters whose job would be to train them in preparation for the big push.