Customer Story: DPR Construction
DPR Construction: Initial wins to long-term hiring growth powered by Skillit
April 2026 by Fraser Patterson
DPR Construction is a national commercial contractor known for delivering complex, technical projects in data center construction, healthcare, advanced tech, life sciences, and higher education. With their high bar for quality and tight project schedules, DPR is constantly seeking ways to move faster on craft hires without sacrificing candidate quality.
Massive data center projects have become a staple of DPR growth and Skillit has supported them throughout their expansion into this vertical.
Update: April 2026
After early success in mid-2025, DPR made Skillit their preferred source for craft hiring, a way to access quality, vetted workers quickly without scaling their recruiting team. What followed was rapid, compounding growth.
Over their first 12 months, DPR's usage of Skillit grew 544.4% — an average of 19.8% month-over-month — expanding to 58 trade-market combinations across 16 trades in 30 markets. As Skillit's worker network and platform capabilities have grown, so has DPR's reliance on it. That trajectory is not slowing down.
In 2026, DPR plans to 10x increase their initial hiring goals, driven by surging demand across their data center portfolio. What began as early wins across a handful of roles and regions has evolved into Skillit powering the majority of DPR's craft hiring nationwide, especially to support their data center builds.
DPR's growth is a blueprint for what Skillit delivers at enterprise scale: fast results from day one, and a platform that scales with you as your projects and ambitions grow.
The Challenge: Sourcing for Multiple Trades Across Regions
In May 2025, DPR faced an urgent staffing need: fill two different skilled roles, a Heavy Equipment Operator in Denver, CO and a Mechanical Drywaller in Atlanta, GA, immediately. These roles required not only specialized experience, but also certifications, regional availability, and job readiness. They had used job boards, but with no success.
Cesar and Samir, recruiters at DPR, turned to Skillit to help fill both positions in their first week on the platform.
The Solution: One Platform, One Workflow
Using Skillit’s targeted search and AI scheduling assistant Sam, Cesar and Samir built detailed searches for both positions simultaneously. They included:
Location-specific filters: Denver, CO and Atlanta, GA
Required trade experience and skills (e.g., grading, plan reading for HEO in Denver, CO; Drywall installation for Atlanta, GA)
After identifying and saving strong candidates, Sam took over, contacting the workers, following up automatically, and scheduling interviews directly into their calendars.
The Result: Two Specialized Hires in 7 Days
Within their first week on Skillit, DPR successfully staffed both roles in two different regions, across two different trades with only minutes of sourcing time.
The workflow was seamless:
One click to contact a worker
Sam scheduled phone interviews, and handled all follow up so the recruiters did not have to chase candidates
Cesar and Samir conducted interviews and made the offers
Updated at a glance:
DPR Construction’s Expansion
Expanding into 58 trade-market combinations
16 trades
30 markets across the US
Usage
With a plan to 10x hiring on the Skillit platform and the expansion, DPR needed to up its usage.
544.4% usage growth across 12 months - 19.8% usage growth MoM.
Results
42.75% Worker response rate
7 days
51 total minutes on Skillit
Two skilled hires across two different states in just 7 days
Customer since: 2025
Initial success at a glance:
DPR Construction’s Immediate Hiring Needs
1 Heavy Equipment Operator (Denver, CO)
1 Mechanical Drywaller (Atlanta, GA)
Challenge
With a tight timeline and specific trade and regional requirements, DPR scheduled 10 calls and the first 8 completed conversations led to 2 successful hires.
Results
2 direct hires
7 days
51 total minutes on Skillit
Two skilled hires across two different states in just 7 days
Customer since: 2025
DPR grows faster in multiple regions with Skillit
100%
Interview show rate
25
Minutes per hire
25%
Interview to hire rate
“The platform [Skillit] has revolutionized our hiring process for heavy equipment operators, commercial and mechanic drywallers, offering a significant improvement over traditional job boards. This tool is truly a game-changer in the industry. ”
Samir Montealegre
Craft Recruiter | Self Perform
DPR Construction
About Skillit
Skillit is America's fastest-growing database of vetted craft workers, intelligently matching self-perform contractors with qualified craft workers seeking full-time employment.
If you’re ready to self perform more work, get in touch to connect with thousands of vetted craft workers near you.

