Skilled trades recruiting in Tampa, Florida
10 Second Agency finds, screens, and places HVAC, plumbing, and electrical techs for independent home-services companies across Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast. Flat fee per hire or a flat monthly retainer, every candidate human-screened and background-checked, and a 90-day guarantee behind every placement.
Searching for a trades staffing agency in Tampa? We are the direct-hire alternative: the tech joins your payroll from day one, with no markup on every hour they ever work.
Recruiting in Tampa · St. Petersburg · Clearwater · Sarasota · Bradenton · Venice · North Port
Your posting is not the problem. The pool is.
The trades are short roughly 349,000 workers nationally in 2026, contractor surveys say over 80% of craft employers have unfilled openings, and three quarters of home-services operators report they cannot find qualified applicants. The good techs are not reading job ads; they are fielding direct offers.
So we do not wait for applicants. We maintain a standing database of Gulf Coast trades talent built from state license records, county journeyman rolls, and referral chains, and we recruit from it directly. Your opening starts from people we already know, which is why first submittals usually land inside a week.
Three steps, no mystery.
Tell us the role
Our intake responds in seconds, and a human talks to you the same business day. We define the role, the pay band, and what wins techs away from your competitors, with live local wage data on the table.
We screen, you interview
Every candidate passes a scorecard phone screen, license and certification checks, and background and MVR checks to your policy. You see a short list of real options, usually inside the first week.
Hire with a guarantee
We manage the offer on both sides and stay on it after the start date. If a placement does not stick inside 90 days, we replace them. Simple as that.
What we recruit.
HVAC recruiters
Direct-hire recruiting for HVAC service techs, installers, and service managers at independent Florida shops.
Learn morePlumbing recruiters
Direct-hire recruiting for service plumbers, repipe crews, and rough-in talent across Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast.
Learn moreElectrician recruiters
Direct-hire recruiting for residential service electricians, journeymen, and foremen for independent Gulf Coast shops.
Learn moreFractional recruiting
A flat monthly retainer that makes us your recruiting department: searches, screening, and a warm bench, placements included.
Learn moreConstruction management search
Retained and contingency search for superintendents, estimators, and project managers at Tampa Bay builders and GCs.
Learn moreOne-off searches when you need one. A recruiting department when you are done gambling.
Hire once: a flat $7,500 to $9,000 per placed tech, or the classic 20% of first-year pay. Hire all year: the fractional retainer at $3,500 to $4,500 a month makes us your recruiting department, placements included, bench always warm. Between hires, the $1,250-a-month pipeline plan keeps screened candidates flowing.
Every number is on the pricing page, because the shops we work for are tired of “call for a quote.”
Full pricingBuilt on Gulf Coast geography.
Commute reality decides whether a tech stays, so our searches are local by design. Pick your market:
Tampa
The biggest trades labor market on the Gulf Coast, and the one where commercial construction competes hardest for your techs.
St. Petersburg
A built-out peninsula county where the trades run on service and replacement, and where commute geography decides who stays.
Clearwater
North Pinellas runs on its own talent pool: beach-corridor wear, suburban replacement work, and techs who will not drive the length of the county.
Sarasota
An affluent, fast-consolidating market with the coast’s thinnest trades labor base. Hiring here is a housing-math problem.
Bradenton
The coast’s growth engine: new rooftops from Lakewood Ranch to Parrish, install demand everywhere, and service talent in short supply.
Venice
South county’s small-shop market: owner-operators scaling past their first trucks, serving an island of mid-century homes and a ring of gated communities.
North Port
The coast’s workforce city: where a large share of the region’s techs actually live, and a service market now growing into its own.
Common questions
What does 10 Second Agency do?
10 Second Agency is a skilled trades recruiting firm in Tampa, Florida. We find, screen, and place HVAC, plumbing, and electrical techs for independent home-services companies across Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast, on a flat fee per hire or a monthly retainer.
Why is it called 10 Second Agency?
Because responsiveness is the product. Our intake responds to a new role in seconds, a human follows the same business day, and candidates hear back fast enough that they do not drift to the next offer. Hiring is a speed game; the name keeps us honest.
What does a placement cost?
A flat fee of $7,500 to $9,000 per placed tech, or 20% of first-year pay. Shops that hire several times a year do better on the fractional retainer at $3,500 to $4,500 a month with placements included. Every placement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee.
Which areas do you serve?
Tampa and Hillsborough County, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, Sarasota County, and Bradenton and Manatee County, with candidate sourcing across the whole Gulf Coast commute shed.
An empty truck costs more per week than our fee costs once.
Email dalton@openventuregroup.com or start a search online. The intake answers in seconds; a human follows the same business day.