In-House Recruitment vs Agency: A Builder's Guide

Your best carpenter quits on a Friday. Monday morning you are a man short, with an agency number in your phone.

Time to weigh up in house recruitment vs agency.

Should a construction company build an in-house recruitment team instead of using agencies?

For regular hiring of the same trades, usually yes. You keep the process, the contacts and the savings. For urgent, rare or senior roles, an agency can still help. Many builders end up using both: their own system for routine roles and an agency for the hard ones.

It is rarely an all-or-nothing choice. If you hire the same trades again and again, running your own hiring usually wins.

I've worked in construction recruitment for over ten years, and on the tools for twelve before that. I've placed more than 1,000 trades, labour and management staff.

I'm not here to tell you agencies are bad. I'm here to help you work out when you are paying for something you could do yourself.

Check what your hiring costs now

Add up what you paid agencies last year, then use the free hiring cost check to see what empty roles cost you too.

What is in-house recruitment?

It means your own business finds and hires its own people. For a builder, that does not need a full-time recruiter. It needs a simple process, ready-made ad and interview templates, and someone trained to run them every time you hire.

Most builders and subbies don't need a full-time recruiter. The someone who runs it might be you, your office manager or your site supervisor.

Think of it like a tool kit. A good chippy doesn't buy new tools for every job. They have a kit, they know it, and they use it every time.

A hiring setup works the same way. You build it once and use it on every hire.

The word "in-house" scares people. It sounds like a big company with an HR team. It isn't. For a builder with a crew of 5 or 50, it is a short list of things in a folder and a few habits.

When an agency makes sense

Let me be fair to agencies. They have a job to do.

An agency is worth a look when:

• You need someone fast and can't wait to build a search yourself.
• The role is rare, like a specialist trade or a senior project manager.
• You have no spare time at all and the cost of an empty role is high.
• It is a one-off hire and you don't expect to do it again soon.

Michael Page lists reasons to use an agency, such as speed and reaching people who are not on the market (Michael Page). That fits what I see.

When the problem is time, or the person is hard to find, outside help can earn its fee.

Want to see what agencies charge? I wrote a plain guide: construction recruitment agency fees Australia.

In house recruitment vs agency: when in-house wins

In-house wins when hiring is a pattern, not a one-off.

You hire the same trades again and again. Maybe it is always carpenters, or labourers, or leading hands. You will do it again next quarter.

Each time you pay an agency, you pay the fee in full. You also learn nothing, because the agency keeps the contacts and the method.

Michael Page is an agency, and even it lists "filling the same role repeatedly" as a red flag for using one, because you could build the skill in-house (Michael Page).

When you run it yourself, each hire makes the next one easier:

• Your ad gets better.
• Your list of people grows.
• You know which questions work.
• You know what a good reference sounds like.

Here is a simple test. Count how many people you hired last year. Then count how many you plan to hire this year.

If the answer is more than a few, in-house starts to look good. If it is one hire every two years, an agency may be fine.

Here is a figure to think about, and it is a seller's number. TPG sells recruitment desks. Their own worked example says that on a $120,000 package at a 15% fee, ten hires through an agency costs about $180,000 a year. They put one in-house recruiter at about $145,000 a year (TPG).

Your numbers will be different. But it shows how fast repeat fees add up.

The simple sum behind it: 10 hires times $18,000 is $180,000.

The six parts of an in-house setup

If you have all six, you have an in-house setup. If you are missing some, that is where hires go wrong.

1. A hiring process that is mapped and simple. Write down the steps from "we need someone" to "they start". Who does what, and how long each step takes. Cut anything that adds delay. Good tradies don't wait around. A slow process loses people.

2. Job ad templates. One ad for each type of role you hire. Lead with the site and the work, then the pay and the job length. Change a few lines each time instead of starting from nothing.

3. A place to track people. A job board account and a simple way to see who applied, who you called and who is waiting on an answer. A spreadsheet can work. A proper tracking tool works better as you grow.

4. A way to find people who aren't applying. The best tradies already have jobs. You need to search for them on Indeed and LinkedIn and reach out. This is the part most builders skip. It is often the part that matters most.

5. Screening, interview and reference scripts. The same questions for every candidate. You compare people fairly, and you don't forget the hard ones. A reference script makes sure you call the foreman, not the mate.

6. A first-14-days plan for each new starter. A hire isn't done at the offer. If the new person quits in week two, you start again. A plan for the first two weeks makes it more likely they stay.

Add one more thing: someone trained to run it. A process on paper does nothing if nobody owns it. Pick a person. Show them how it works. Give them time.

Want to see how ready your own hiring is? Take the free Hiring Readiness Scorecard. It will show you which of the six parts you are missing.

Free report: 7 Hiring Mistakes

See where your own hiring may be slipping. Get the free 7 Hiring Mistakes report.

What it costs to build

There are a few honest ways to do it.

Do it yourself. Our Construction Hiring System course is $497 AUD. It teaches the method step by step, and you build your own setup as you go. It suits a builder or office manager who is happy to put in a few evenings. You can also start with the free 7 Hiring Mistakes report.

Get help on one live role. The Hiring Fix Call is $295 AUD, 60 minutes, and it is for a real role you are hiring for right now. We look at your brief, your ad and where you are stuck.

Have us build it inside your business. Some builders want the whole thing put in place and their staff trained to recruit. We call this Your Own Hiring Team. Setup is $3,500 AUD and a full build is from $12,000 AUD. Ask about it on a free 15-minute discovery call and I'll explain how it works.

None of these is an agency placement. The aim is for your own business to be able to do it. For the step-by-step method, read how to hire tradies without a recruitment agency.

Then compare the cost with what you pay now. Add up what agencies charged you last year. Then add the cost of any empty roles. Check what your hiring really costs you and see if building your own setup makes sense.

The hybrid plan

You don't have to pick one side forever. A plan that works for many builders:

Type of role	Who runs it
Routine roles you hire again and again	You, with your own setup
A rare skill, a senior hire or an emergency	An agency or specialist you keep on your phone

You stop paying fees on the easy hires. If you are weighing renting workers instead, see labour hire vs direct hire.

And when you do use an agency, you are a better client. You know what to ask for. You have a clear brief. You can tell a good quote from a bad one.

A five-minute test: are you ready to hire in-house?

You are ready when you can say yes to most of the eight questions below. Answer them honestly. A no is not a failure. It shows you where to start, and the scorecard above scores this for you and points to the gaps.

1. Can you write down your hiring steps on one page?
2. Do you have a job ad you can reuse for your main trade?
3. Do you have an account on a job board and a way to track applicants?
4. Do you search for people who haven't applied?
5. Do you ask every candidate the same questions?
6. Do you call at least one foreman or site manager for each hire?
7. Do you have a plan for a new starter's first 14 days?
8. Does one person own the whole process?

If you said yes to most, you are close. If you said no to most, you are not behind. Plenty of builders start there.

General information only, not legal, financial or employment advice. The TPG figures are one seller's worked example. Your own costs will differ.

Want help with your next hire?

Book a free 15-minute discovery call and we will talk through your next hire. Prefer to learn it yourself? The Construction Hiring System course teaches the full method.

FAQ

Are recruitment agencies worth it for construction?

Sometimes. They help when you need someone fast, the role is rare or senior, or you have no time to look. They are less useful when you hire the same trade again and again. Then the fees add up, and you can learn the method yourself.

How many hires a year before in-house recruitment pays off?

There is no single number. It depends on your pay levels, your agency fees and who runs the process. Add up what you paid agencies last year. Then compare it with the cost of building your own setup. The hiring cost check helps you do the sums.

What do I need to start hiring in-house?

You need six things. One: a simple hiring process. Two: job ad templates. Three: a place to track applicants. Four: a way to search Indeed and LinkedIn. Five: interview and reference scripts. Six: a plan for a new starter's first 14 days. Someone on your team must own it.