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Knoxville’s staffing agency since 2012.

Over 5,000 local workers. Same-day dispatch. Construction, warehouse, hospitality, events, and manufacturing — from a family-owned company on Chapman Highway, not a franchise in another state.

5,000+
Local Workers
Same Day
Dispatch
< 15 Min
Onboarding
Since 2012
Family Owned

Industries we staff

Hands-on staffing across the industries Knoxville actually runs on. No office temps, no IT contractors, just workers who show up ready.

Knoxville is a working city. There is always a job site going up off the interstate, a hotel near downtown or the river that needs its rooms turned, a distribution center along the I-40 and I-75 corridor moving freight, and an event filling up a venue on a fall Saturday when the Vols are in town and Neyland Stadium empties into the streets. We staff the people who keep all of that moving. Honestly, we are in the people business, and putting your neighbors to work here in Knox County is the best part of what we do. Every worker is pre-screened and ready today, dispatched from our family-owned office on Chapman Highway, not a franchise in another state.

Knoxville is bigger than people give it credit for. The University of Tennessee is the largest employer in the area, with more than ten thousand faculty and staff, and football Saturdays at Neyland Stadium pour a hundred thousand people into downtown. The University of Tennessee Medical Center anchors a healthcare corridor of its own. The Tennessee Valley Authority runs its headquarters from downtown towers, and a short drive west sits Oak Ridge and the national laboratory, the research and energy backbone of the whole region. None of those places are our customers, and we would never claim otherwise, but they tell you what kind of city this is: a working city with a deep, steady need for hands. Around all of that sits the day-to-day Knoxville we actually staff for, the hotels, the warehouses, the job sites, the production floors, and the events that fill a weekend.

You can see the city changing if you stand on Chapman Highway and look toward the river. The South Waterfront is being rebuilt block by block, a new pedestrian bridge is going up to tie South Knoxville to the UT campus, and the Urban Wilderness has put a thousand forested acres and more than fifty miles of trail right at the edge of downtown. Growth like that means more construction, more hospitality, more events, and more of the everyday labor that keeps a place running. We have watched it happen from the same office since 2012, and honestly, it is a good time to be in the people business here.

Roles we dispatch

Every role below is one we actively fill from our Knoxville worker pool.

General labor & cleanup Forklift operators Loaders & unloaders Housekeeping Laundry attendants Banquet servers Dishwashers Food prep Event setup & teardown Concrete workers Carpenters & framers Landscaping crews Production & assembly Material handlers Flaggers Pickers & packers

Key takeaways

  • Labor Exchange is a family-owned staffing agency at 4408 Chapman Highway in South Knoxville, putting Knoxville businesses to work since 2012. Phone 865-247-4957.
  • We dispatch same-day pre-screened W-2 workers (not 1099 contractors) across construction, warehouse, hospitality, events, and manufacturing.
  • Workers’ pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening are all on us. You get one all-in hourly rate and one invoice.
  • Office opens at 6:30 AM Monday through Friday at 4408 Chapman Highway in South Knoxville. Call 865-247-4957 to dispatch a crew today.

How it works

From first call to workers on-site in under 15 minutes.

01

Contact us

Call 865-247-4957 or submit online. Tell us what you need, how many, and when.

02

Sign & order

Straightforward agreement with clear billing. We confirm rates and requirements before dispatch.

03

Workers arrive

Qualified workers dispatched to your site. Drug testing and background checks available upon request.

When to call

No-shows

Workers didn’t show and you need replacements today.

Last-minute orders

Timeline moved up and you need workers by tomorrow.

Seasonal surges

Peak demand hitting and you need to scale fast.

One-day projects

Single-day jobs that don’t justify a permanent hire.

Why a local crew matters in Knoxville

We are your neighbors in South Knoxville, not a call center in another state.

When a worker does not show, it is your problem in the next hour, not next week. A short housekeeping crew means rooms do not turn before check-in. A missing hand on a job site can stall a pour or push a deadline. We answer those calls fast because we are right here, ten minutes from downtown on Chapman Highway, and because this has been a family company since Bill Peterson started it in 2012. We know the difference one reliable person makes on a bad morning, and we treat the people we place like family, including the ones the world has lost track of. You are not a ticket in a national system. You are a neighbor we want to keep.

Being local is not just a feeling, it is how we answer the phone faster. Our dispatch sits on Chapman Highway, ten minutes from downtown and right on the artery that runs south toward Sevier County and the mountains. From here we know which way the traffic moves before a Vols game, which side of town a job site is on when you say Hardin Valley or Strawberry Plains, and how long it really takes to get a crew from our door to yours. A call center two states away is guessing at all of that. We are not. When you tell us where you are, we already know, and that is half the speed right there.

What to expect when you call us

A real person, the same day. No phone trees, no runaround.

Call 865-247-4957 and you reach our crew here in South Knoxville. We ask three simple things: what you need, how many, and when. From there we can usually have you set up in under 15 minutes, with same-day dispatch during business hours. To put a worker on payroll, all it takes is two forms of ID for the I-9, the same paperwork any new hire fills out, and we handle everything else. Tell us what you need. We will get the right people to you, ready today.

One crew for a city that runs on many shifts

Knoxville does not work one schedule, so neither do we.

The thing about staffing a whole city is that everybody needs people at a different hour. A distribution center near the interstate is loading trucks at six in the morning. A downtown hotel is turning rooms by mid-morning and setting a banquet by late afternoon. A concrete crew wants its extra hands before the pour, not after. A festival in the Old City needs setup the day before and teardown the minute the last band stops. We sit in the middle of all of that and move people to where the gap is, because we are pulling from one deep pool of pre-screened, ready-today workers instead of scrambling fresh for every order. Honestly, that is the quiet advantage of working with a local crew that has been here since 2012: we have already met the person you need.

It also means you are not starting from scratch every time your week changes. Plenty of Knoxville employers keep a standing order with us, the same faces week after week, and then call for extra hands when a deadline moves up or someone calls in. Whether you need one general laborer for a single morning or a full crew for a busy season, the door is the same, the rate is the same, and the people are folks we already know and trust. We would rather build something steady with you than win a one-time order. That is just how a family company thinks.

Where we dispatch

From our office at 4408 Chapman Highway — 10 minutes from downtown Knoxville, right off the I-40 corridor.

West Knoxville East Knoxville South Knoxville North Knoxville Fountain City Cedar Bluff Farragut Bearden Powell Halls

We also dispatch to Karns, Strawberry Plains, Corryton, and Seymour. Beyond Knox County: Blount County (Maryville, Alcoa) and Sevier County (Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Pittman Center, Newport).

Get directions →

Smoky Mountain corridor

We serve the entire Sevier County tourism and construction economy.

Safety & compliance

Every worker we send is pre-screened before dispatch, and every worker is a W-2 employee of ours, not a 1099 contractor you have to worry about. We carry the payroll, the payroll taxes, the workers’ comp, and the screening, all folded into one simple rate per worker. That means one invoice for you and no surprise paperwork. Drug testing and background checks are available on request, so just tell us your site rules when you place your order and we will set it up before anyone arrives. You focus on your operation. We will handle the employment side.

Get workers today

Knoxville’s locally owned staffing agency since 2012.

What Knoxville says about Labor Exchange

Reviews from our Google Business Profile (4.3 ★ / 108 reviews).

So happy to have had such a great group of guys to help with our job. They knocked out the unloading of 2 16′ PODS container and reloaded into 1 40′ high cube permanent container in 5 hours. Drew, Travis & Rob had great attitudes, energy, and ability to listen. Thank you for sending these guys our way — really good workers!
Leane P. — Knoxville client (via Google)
You’re not gonna get rich here — but if you want well managed, considerate, decent people to work for, they’ve got it. Never once was I shorted on pay, or had a snag on pay. Work today, get paid today. In the 20 years I’ve been working for temp agencies, I vote them number one.
Jack S. — Knoxville worker (via Google)
Mary is one of the best persons I know — she has always been encouraging me, and a lot of people go out daily. The workers are happy to work for her and the dispatcher is eager to help and cares if you go out. Thank you for a chance, Labor Exchange.
James A. — Knoxville worker (via Google)

Frequently Asked Questions

What areas of Knoxville does Labor Exchange serve?

Labor Exchange serves all of Knoxville and Knox County — including West Knoxville, Bearden, Farragut, Fountain City, North Knoxville, South Knoxville, Powell, Halls, and Karns — plus Sevier County (Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg), Blount County (Maryville, Alcoa), and Oak Ridge in Anderson County.

What industries does Labor Exchange staff in Knoxville?

Construction, hospitality and hotels, events and festivals, warehouse and distribution, manufacturing, and general labor across Knoxville and East Tennessee.

How fast can you dispatch workers?

Same-day dispatch is standard during business hours. We staff requests received before 4:00 PM for the following morning, and emergency same-day dispatch is available Monday–Friday 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM.

What’s the cutoff time to request same-day workers?

Call dispatch at 865-247-4957 by 4:00 PM for next-morning placement, or as early in the day as possible for same-day dispatch. We do our best to staff late-day requests but availability is highest with earlier notice.

Why choose Labor Exchange over other Knoxville staffing agencies?

Labor Exchange is family-owned and locally operated since 2012, BBB A+ accredited since 2013, and three-time winner of the Knox Stars Community Choice Award for Best Staffing/Employment Agency. All workers are W-2 employees, all are background-checked and E-Verified, and same-day backfill is included with every placement.