An electrician-focused job board company has grown through a recent acquisition.
According to the company:
Buildforce, a platform connecting skilled electricians with top electrical contractors, announced it has acquired Ladder, a Y Combinator-backed technology-enabled construction labor marketplace led by Atlanta-based Founder and CEO, Alex Stewart, who will continue on in a leadership role responsible for growing the presence of the company in the U.S. Southeast region.
This acquisition serves as a key milestone in Buildforce expansion plans into the southeastern U.S. and comes amid unprecedented growth across the construction sector in the region, and increasing demand for skilled construction talent.
Buildforce will leverage the Ladder customer base of over 200 customers across six states, as well as its extensive electrician network of over 10,000 pre-screened electricians, the largest in the Southeast. Ladder has seen notable growth since inception, having recently marked its third year in partnership with The IEC Atlanta and Georgia chapters, a nonprofit trade organization, and was presented with the IEC Industry Award for outstanding support of the Atlanta Chapter IEC and the electrical industry in 2022.
In addition to launching Georgia in conjunction with the Ladder acquisition, Buildforce launched in Arizona earlier this year and will expand into several additional high-construction volume states in 2025. Contractors in these regions will be introduced to a more integrated, technology-driven approach to talent acquisition and workforce management that drives efficiency and delivers higher quality project outcomes.
Buildforce was founded in 2019 by Moody Heard, Vu Brown, and Michael Orcutt, who identified a fundamental gap in the construction labor market affecting both skilled tradespeople and contractors.
“There are two major problems plaguing the construction labor market. One, the project-based nature of construction work means tradesmen are constantly ‘working themselves out of a job,’ meaning high employee turnover. And two, the industry is experiencing a secular decline in the supply of tradesmen relative to surging demand,” said Heard, co-founder and CEO of Buildforce.
The company was built to modernize construction staffing processes and empower the construction trades as a cornerstone of the U.S. labor market. Through its easy-to-use platform and marketplace-driven approach, Buildforce streamlines the process for identifying, screening, placing, and managing skilled construction professionals on behalf of contractors.
"I am incredibly excited to join the Buildforce team to further its expansion into new markets, while staying true to its mission of helping people in the construction trades find more security and fulfillment,” said Alex Stewart, founder and CEO of Ladder and incoming senior account executive at Buildforce. “Buildforce is at the forefront of workforce management for the construction industry, and I look forward to working with Moody and the rest of the talented Buildforce team to drive the business towards continued growth.”
