The project manager shortage is real and SMEs are feeling it. But hiring another project manager may only solve part of the problem. Before committing budget, leaders should check what the role is really being asked to fix.
The shortage of experienced project managers sits inside a much wider skills and delivery problem across construction, engineering, infrastructure and technical services.
CITB’s Construction Workforce Outlook says UK construction needs an average of 41,200 extra workers each year between 2026 and 2030, equivalent to around 206,000 additional workers over five years. The UK Government infrastructure pipeline also lists 734 planned projects, covering £718 billion of public and private sector investment over the next decade. That pipeline includes new hospitals, schools, railways, reservoirs and clean energy plants, and it will need a major construction, engineering and project delivery workforce behind it.
That demand matters to SMEs because large projects do not deliver themselves. They pull on the same trades, supervisors, engineers, planners, quantity surveyors, commercial people and project managers that smaller businesses rely on.
So yes, the project manager shortage is real.
But it is also exposing something deeper.
For many SMEs, the issue is not only that experienced project managers are hard to find. The issue is that the business has grown faster than the project management habits underneath it. Coron explored this wider question in The project manager shortage – or is it a confidence gap?, which looks at how capability and confidence can be misread as a simple recruitment shortage.
Why the project manager shortage is now reaching SME leaders
The project manager shortage is being felt because project work is becoming harder to coordinate.
Clients expect faster answers. Main contractors expect tighter reporting. Commercial exposure appears earlier. Margins leave less room for drift. Good technical people are being asked to manage more moving parts, often while still carrying their technical responsibilities.
At the same time, the natural talent pool is under pressure. Many future project engineers and project managers start in the trades, on site, or in technical delivery roles. They learn how work really happens before they step into project coordination, management or leadership.
If those pools shrink, the future project leadership pipeline shrinks with them.
That is why the trade skills shortage matters to project-led SMEs. It affects who is available on site this month, and who will be ready to lead packages, manage clients, coordinate work and run projects in five or ten years.
UK Government Industry Training Board reform consultation material cites CITB forecasts showing a potential need for around 240,000 more UK construction workers by 2030. The same consultation also refers to ECITB forecasts for around 40,000 additional engineering construction roles, based on publicly stated project timescales.
The sector data explains the labour pressure. What we often see inside SMEs is how that pressure exposes weak handovers, unclear decision routes and inconsistent follow-through.
For SME leaders, that creates a more immediate question: if experienced people are harder to recruit, are you making the best use of the people already inside the business?
What the shortage is exposing inside SMEs
When recruitment becomes difficult, the internal way of working becomes visible.
In some businesses, the same few people are still being relied upon to hold everything together. The owner, managing director, operations director or commercial director remains too close to day-to-day delivery because too many issues keep coming back to them.
The signs are usually familiar.
Project handovers are too light. Decisions sit with the wrong person for too long. Client conversations happen, but the outcome is not always captured clearly. Commercial changes are spotted late. Technical people are helpful and committed, but they are unsure how far they can go in leading work, challenging assumptions or closing actions.
Everyone is busy. Everyone is trying. The problem is that effort is not converting into consistent ownership.
That is where the project manager shortage becomes a mirror. It shows whether the business has a strong enough delivery organisation, or whether project management has been relying on individual effort, memory, goodwill and senior intervention.
We see this often in growing SMEs. There are good people in the room. They know the work, the clients and the culture. But they have not always been developed to lead decisions, manage issues earlier or think commercially about the consequences of delay, scope change and unclear reporting lines.
That links directly to a wider project management skills gap. The gap is not always a lack of training or intelligence. It is often the gap between technical capability and the confidence, judgement and authority needed to manage live project work properly.
This connects with two related Coron insights: Improving project team performance, which looks at the hidden value already inside project teams, and Why project manager development for SME engineering teams needs a rethink, which explores the gap between qualifications and applied capability.
Why hiring alone may not fix the problem
Recruitment may be needed. A business with too much work and too few capable project people needs more capacity.
But hiring alone can disappoint when the new project manager is being asked to compensate for weak habits across the business.
If handovers are poor before the hire, the new project manager inherits incomplete information. If decision routes are unclear, they spend too much time chasing answers. If senior leaders are still the only people trusted to resolve difficult client or commercial matters, the new hire becomes another route back to the same senior team.
The leadership team may think, “We hired someone to sort this.”
The project manager may think, “I cannot get the information, decisions or authority I need.”
The rest of the team may think, “Nothing has really changed.”
That frustration is expensive.
Project manager recruitment carries real cost: salary, recruitment fees, onboarding time, management attention and the risk of a poor fit. In a sector where margins are already under pressure, that cost matters. The Federation of Master Builders has reported that 72% of firms faced a lack of skilled workers, contributing to project delays, halted expansion plans and job cancellations.
The Insolvency Service also reported that construction had the highest number of insolvencies in the 12 months to August 2025, with 3,934 insolvencies and 17% of captured cases.
Those figures are not all caused by project manager shortages. They point to a wider reality: weak capacity, tight margins and poor delivery control are a dangerous mix. Coron explored the people-pressure side of this in Project manager burnout in engineering SMEs, where workload, isolation and economic uncertainty are considered alongside project delivery pressure.
For more on the cost side of this decision, see How much does a project manager cost?.
A familiar story: the hire was not the whole fix
In one growing SME environment, the leadership team felt the answer was obvious: hire another project manager.
The business was busy. The order book was healthy. The same few senior people were still being pulled into supplier delays, client emails, internal action chases and commercial decisions. One leader summed it up simply: “We need someone who can get this off our desk.”
That sounded sensible. The team did need more capacity.
But when the role was explored properly, the deeper issue became clear. The new project manager would inherit light handovers, unclear decision routes, late commercial conversations and a culture where people waited for the senior team to make the final call.
A good project manager would help. But placed into that system, they would spend too much time chasing information, asking for decisions and trying to create authority after the fact.
That is the point many SMEs miss.
Recruitment can add capacity, experience and energy. It works best when the business is clear about how projects should be handed over, reviewed, escalated and owned.
A practical test before you hire another project manager
What keeps coming back to the senior team?
If the same issues keep landing with the owner or director, the problem may be decision ownership, not headcount.
Where do projects lose momentum?
Look at handovers, early planning, commercial review, procurement, design coordination, site readiness, client communication and close-out. The weak point may sit before the project manager becomes fully involved.
Who really owns follow-through?
A named action is useful. A closed action is better. If actions are agreed but not followed through, the business needs a stronger review organisation.
Are technical people being asked to lead without enough development?
Many SMEs rely on engineers, supervisors, quantity surveyors or delivery leads to manage project work. That can work well, but only when they are supported to build judgement, communication, commercial awareness and confidence. For more on how development support should continue beyond one-off training, see Project management training vs coaching.
What will the new project manager have authority to decide?
A project manager without decision rights becomes a coordinator. That may still be useful, but it should be understood before recruitment begins.
This is the business leader’s learning point: recruitment works best when the role is placed into a business that knows how it wants work to be managed, reviewed, escalated and owned.
What SMEs can do before committing budget
The strongest move is to pause long enough to understand the real gap.
You may need to recruit. You may need to develop the people you already have. You may need a better project review rhythm. You may need stronger commercial support around live work. You may need clearer handovers between sales, estimating, technical and delivery.
Those are different problems. They require different answers.
A good project manager can make a strong business better. They can bring pace, organisation, confidence and control. But they need the right conditions around them.
Before you hire, check whether the role is being asked to fix:
- Too many late decisions
- Weak project handovers
- Poor action follow-through
- Limited commercial awareness
- Overdependence on the senior team
- Technical people stretched beyond their development
- A lack of clear project review rhythm
If those issues are present, recruitment may still help. But development, structure and leadership attention will also be needed.
For a deeper review of what is really happening beneath the surface, explore Trail Insight. For support developing the team, see Base Camp. For direct project or commercial support on live delivery, see Ascent.
Common questions about the project manager shortage in SMEs
Is there really a project manager shortage?
Yes. The shortage sits within a wider skills and capacity issue across construction, engineering and infrastructure. Demand from major infrastructure, housing, energy, retrofit and maintenance work is increasing pressure on the same talent pools SMEs need.
Why are SMEs struggling to recruit project managers?
Experienced project managers with technical understanding, commercial awareness and client confidence are valuable. Larger projects, major infrastructure programmes and better-funded employers can attract the same people SMEs want to hire.
Can hiring a project manager fix weak project delivery?
It can help, but only when the business gives the role clear authority, good information, proper handovers and a consistent project rhythm. Hiring into a disorganised system often creates frustration for everyone.
What should leaders review before recruiting?
Review where issues keep coming back to the senior team, where decisions slow down, how projects are handed over, how commercial changes are managed, and whether existing people have enough support to step up.
What should a business do before hiring another project manager?
Before hiring, check whether the problem is capacity, capability, project organisation, commercial support or decision ownership. The answer will shape whether you need recruitment, development, external support or a clearer way of managing live work.
Start with a Compass Check before you hire
The project manager shortage is real. It is affecting SMEs, and recruitment may be part of the answer.
But before you commit budget, it is worth checking what the role is being asked to fix.
If the business needs more capacity, recruit with confidence. If the deeper issue is ownership, handover, decision-making, commercial awareness or senior-team dependence, deal with that as well.
Book a Compass Check before you commit recruitment budget. We’ll help you understand whether the issue is capacity, capability, project rhythm, commercial support or something deeper in the way work is being managed.
From there, you can decide your next step with a clearer view. That may be recruitment. It may be team development through Base Camp. It may be a deeper Trail Insight review. It may be direct Ascent support on live delivery.
Start with the conversation. Book a Compass Check with Coron and get a clearer view before you hire another project manager.