The number of people employed at heavy-duty repair shops rose by 14.5% last year, signifying a bounce back for the market and need for a larger workforce, Fullbay and ATA's Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) revealed in their fifth annual State of Heavy-Duty Repair Report, released Sunday during a press conference at TMC's Annual Meeting in Nashville.
“The passion that goes into putting this report together mirrors our company mission: to support heavy-duty repair shops in becoming more efficient and profitable while ensuring the safety of our roads,” he says.
Diving into the data, McKittrick says the workforce bump is just one data set that indicates the heavy-duty repair industry had a stronger year in 2024. He says 56% of responders reported their business was up year over year (only 20% claimed to be down), while median labor rates and technician pay continue to climb, up $9 and $3 respectively since 2023.
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McKittrick says the latter is good to see but says the survey data also indicates repair shops may still be underselling their work and workforce. He says the data makes it clear that shops that are paying more and offering more career benefits for their technicians are experiencing less turnover, charging more and earning higher profits on an annual basis.
“There’s no silver bullet for what [you] can do as a shop owner to bring talent in, but there certainly is a recipe,” he says.
McKittrick says the ingredients for that recipe can be any number of things. Relationships with local technical schools and internships for student technicians is a great way to bring young talent into an operation, while paid training or training reimbursement, tool stipends and allowances, healthcare, schedule flexibility, uniforms and more are all benefits that technicians clearly value in their employer.
“Shop owners have to think about what they would want in a job,” he says, “and build a culture where people would want to be.”
The newest State of Heavy-Duty Repair Report has operational insights as well.
Key data points identified by Fullbay and TMC include:
- 45% of shops reported assessing their labor rates once per year
- 46% of shops reported their labor rate is in line with their competitors
- Only 66% of shops surveyed offer health benefits to their technicians.
- 36% of shops reported they do not offer apprenticeships programs, while 33% do
- 31% of shop owners reported not paying themselves a salary
- Small shops reported the highest number of monthly completed hours, with an average of 114 hours
- The average total parts cost and revenue of the shops surveyed was $195 and $246, respectively, resulting in a total margin of 21%
- Shops reported a 7.2% increase in cost for mobile repair labor
- The use of VMRS codes within shops is increasing, with 22% of shops reporting their use, a noticeable increase from the year prior
On the latter, ATA's Jack Poster says VMRS can prove a useful tool for shops looking to earn more fleet business. VMRS isn't standard in many service shops but it is widely used in the fleet community and Poster says often carriers seek out service providers who will leverage VMRS to reduce complexity in service event communication.
“Sometimes fleets will go to a shop and tell them, 'If you use it [we will use you]',” he says.
“We are excited to host another informative event as TMC continues its legacy of providing meaningful thought leadership and education aimed to enhance maintenance, sustainability, and technology practices among the heavy-duty repair community,” says TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “This annual report is an invaluable resource for shop owners across the industry, offering an insightful baseline for making important and informed decisions that will advance shop practices and benefit employees.”
The latest report is available for download at the Fullbay website.
