hows the construction industry doing

deano72_2

im no exspert on the economy,come to think of it i know jack 5hit3 about it really, but what i do know its usaully the construction industry which falls on its ar5e first.anyway in my town there was a big housing development of about 1500 houses which has been put on hold for 2yrs due to the recesion but they have started to build in the last 4 months,is this a good sign or are they just taking a gamble that things will start to sale.are there any big sites near you that have reopened or started to build again

TruckerT

If I was in charge of quantitative easing, I would give the money direct to the construction industry, thereby cutting out the banks, and creating both jobs and houses

TruckerT

1984ReturnsForReal_2

If you have a £30k car sitting on your drive that you want to sell but there are no buyers for your asking price?

Well its also depreciating at the same time.

You have finance on it & you lose your job.

Do you:

A: Sell it & buy a cheaper on & wipe out the finance?

B: Wait for another 2 years in the hope you get a job & more buyers are about?


Now, substitute car for housing development.

They waited for more buyers & cheaper materials. Now they cant wait any longer.

molerat

Round here houses are going up like mad, 3 large developments show no sign of slowing down. It is difficult to get hold of a tradesperson because they are all fully booked.

johnycoldears

I'm a Quantity Surveyor in the Civil Engineering sector (roads and bridges etc).

Workload is really starting to drop off as local authority and the Highways Agency's budgets have been cut. To some extent this has previously been masked by the pick up in house building and spending by the large supermarkets and the associated infrastucture works these activities generate. However both these activities now appear to be on the wane again.

In fact last week approximately 1/3 of our site managers and QS's were made redundant (14 posts) and I will be commencing part time working, 3 -4 days per week from October until things pick up.

Luckily I'm old enough and settled enough to stand the reduction for a while.

bo_drinker

I see Thriftybabe doesn't come here much either......:cool:

Jimmy_31

deano72 wrote: »

im no exspert on the economy,come to think of it i know jack 5hit3 about it really, but what i do know its usaully the construction industry which falls on its ar5e first.anyway in my town there was a big housing development of about 1500 houses which has been put on hold for 2yrs due to the recesion but they have started to build in the last 4 months,is this a good sign or are they just taking a gamble that things will start to sale.are there any big sites near you that have reopened or started to build again

The construction industry is on its last legs in some areas and even when work picks up now and again most trades are no better off because of the prices the firms are paying.

There are no signs of things improving for a long time yet, rumours started yesterday morning about one of the biggest main contractors in a certain area going bust soon if they cant find a buyer (which they wont) This will lay a fair few lads off if it happens, most wont be bothered because they will just end up working for the next dodgy contractor who buys the work.

Cant really see work picking up in my area via new builds going up either because there is next to no land left to build on.

Get a trade and you will never be out of work :rotfl:

tleefox

I'm a PM for a top 5 main contractor, and in simple terms we are struggling.

The industry is as cut-throat now as I can ever recall it being - we have won a couple of £20million plus contracts lately where we have factored in a minimum of a £1million loss just to win the work.

Fortunately the company I work for is cash rich, so when times are hard we can afford to do things like this to win the work and keep people employed.

Our directors always told us that 2012 would be the toughest year, and it looks as if that is going to be the case.

The Statistics Office calculated last year that every £1 spent in the construction industry generated £1.30 for the wider economy - I have always thought that if the Government want to get the country moving again they need to be spending more on new building, and based on the comments of the past couple of days it looks as if they may finally have woken up to this.

thriftybabe

Some sites have commenced work again as the planning regulations are changing and this impacts on the costs of building works. We are on a site just now that is a build out as it would cost an absolute fortune to build them in a few years when new planning regulations are implemented. That is the only reason this company is building the site out. To be fair there are only 16 houses on this site.

We have definitely seen an increase in work this year. However, margins are a lot lower and we are working under pressure all the time. We are about to start 3 sites in the next few weeks with them all being social housing. In addition we are hoping to get a shot at pricing some work for the Commonwealth in Glasgow so that it may keep us going in the next few years.

Many people within the Construction Industry are disheartened and many are leaving it and changing careers. We recently had a subcontractor leave who has been in the trade 20 years. He has had enough! He is working elsewhere for less money!

My OH having been running his Company for 20 years wants out also. We are hoping to get another couple of years out of the trade and open another business elsewhere.

GreenNinja

deano72 wrote: »

im no exspert on the economy,come to think of it i know jack 5hit3 about it really, but what i do know its usaully the construction industry which falls on its ar5e first.anyway in my town there was a big housing development of about 1500 houses which has been put on hold for 2yrs due to the recesion but they have started to build in the last 4 months,is this a good sign or are they just taking a gamble that things will start to sale.are there any big sites near you that have reopened or started to build again

Hi deano, interesting comment! Near where I live is what looks like some kind of block of flats which has been left at the half finished stage since I moved in to my property 5 years ago. Couple of months ago, noticed a roof go on it and it now seems nearly finished....

Jimmy_31

thriftybabe wrote: »

Some sites have commenced work again as the planning regulations are changing and this impacts on the costs of building works. We are on a site just now that is a build out as it would cost an absolute fortune to build them in a few years when new planning regulations are implemented. That is the only reason this company is building the site out. To be fair there are only 16 houses on this site.

We have definitely seen an increase in work this year. However, margins are a lot lower and we are working under pressure all the time. We are about to start 3 sites in the next few weeks with them all being social housing. In addition we are hoping to get a shot at pricing some work for the Commonwealth in Glasgow so that it may keep us going in the next few years.

Many people within the Construction Industry are disheartened and many are leaving it and changing careers. We recently had a subcontractor leave who has been in the trade 20 years. He has had enough! He is working elsewhere for less money!

My OH having been running his Company for 20 years wants out also. We are hoping to get another couple of years out of the trade and open another business elsewhere.

Yep im seeing more and more disheartened lads and a couple have walked off site already and it wont be long before everyone else follows, its bad enough taking a hit on your wages but then to have your workload increased to ridiculous levels is what is pi55ing lads off the most.

Everybodys saying i May as well go and work in a supermarket because my wages would be the same but i wouldnt be going home dead on my feet every night and falling asleep at 8 o clock plus forking out for tools all the time.

We are currently working for a main contractor on the refurb side of social housing so you might want to price in for a few compo claims for the tenants because i cant see it being very long before one of the lads knocks one of the tenants out, its great killing yourself everyday to earn a joke of a wage whilst a voluntary unemployed tenant tells you to fcuk off making a noise at 9 in the morning and then when they get up at dinner time to then ask you would you give them a lift to the shop is pushing it a bit.