The Shambles That Is Construction!

I have been in the industry 48 years now, from apprentice to professional, and the fact of the matter is that the industry is a shambles at the moment. 

Your construction expertise and experience tells you that no amount of hard work on a building’s decoration will overcome problems lurking under the surface. If the foundations are defective no amount of papering over the cracks will resolve the real problems.

But sadly, that is what I see in a construction industry that is almost unrecognisable from the one I joined 48 years ago! Worse still we seem to have developed a culture of spin, and BS, and smoke and mirrors that is not only infuriating it is actually exacerbating the problem.

The Smoke and Mirrors

Whilst the industry is facing a whole host of issues, payment is by far and away the biggest and most obfuscated issue. But the simple truth is that if you don’t get paid you don’t have a business.

And sadly yet another Specialist Contractor bit the dust on Tuesday when nearly 200 staff at South Eastern Electrical were sent home from work as administrators took control of the company. One source said that the firm had been hit by insurance claims, withheld retentions and late payment from clients.

If that's true, then it's the same sorry old story playing out over and over again!

If you spend most of your time trying to get paid you have less time to address all the other issues that need your attention, and as for planning for the future, you probably can’t think beyond the end of the month.

Here Are Some Facts

Streetwisesubbie recently supported a piece of statistically significant academic research. With some 502 respondents, its findings cannot be ignored. Some 354 of the respondents were Sub-Contractors, and over 70% of respondents had a turnover exceeding ￡1million. Proper firms facing very real problems.Here’s what the survey uncovered;

• A total of 87.17% said their main issue was disputes about payment,
• Even on public sector projects only 25% of Subcontractors were paid on time, and on private sector projects that fell to just 15%.
• Subcontractors were subject to set off on 88.7% of their projects and between 9 and 34% (depending on turnover) said they were subject to set off on every project!

So What’s To Be Done? 

A staggering 95.66% believed that neither the government nor the trade bodies were doing enough to tackle the problems in the industry!

Frankly no amount of talking, is ever going to fix the problem. “Jaw jaw” might indeed be better than “war war” but for an awful lot of Subbies getting paid is a one sided battle, which they are never going to win without the big guns of proper legislation.

Without it we will never deliver the massive culture shift that is required to rid this industry of its morally bankrupt payment practices. And, here's the opportunity to have your say.

You may or may not know that the government is consulting (yet again) on late payment. And it is an opportunity for Specialist Contractors to make their voices heard.

Our team's purpose is to "Improve The Lives Of Specialist Contractors" and if you take a look on our web site: https://www.streetwisesubbie.com/ you will see that, in addition to the hands on support we provide, we have put in place various initiatives to bring this sorry state of affairs to the attention of the powers that be. And along the way we have proposed some alternatives such as our Fair Treatment Charter.

We intend to submit evidence to the consultation process, and may I suggest that if anyone would like to get in touch we can include your feedback (anonymously if need be) in our submission this time around.

And if you have a problem or want to know more about us, please get in touch at [email protected] or call 01773 712116.