Builders - a key indicator of the local economy
It has always been the case that the building sector is a key indicator of the health of the local economy, as new builds, repairs and general works all feed through into the other sectors.
Those builders who have been reliant upon the Council for work seem to be suffering, with little or no work coming out to them at the moment; despite Council promises to try to advance spending.
The problem seems to lie between making the political decision or noises, and actually having work being put out for tender.
As a consequence, I am told that one of the largest firms has placed all its staff on a three day week and another significant player has given notice to all employees that they will be made redundant in a couple of months, when the current order book is completed.
If my reading of the Council budgets is correct, then it is actually going to get much, much worse. It looks to me as if virtually the entire capital budget for 2011/12 has been committed to the new schools project leaving almost nothing for roads, building maintenance and all the usual projects.
The moral of this tale is: don't rely on the Council for your work.
Update 13/8: I am told that the contractors recently had a meeting with the Vice-Convener at which they were told about all the work that was shortly to come out for tender. The list was circulated, showing that all the work had already been allocated to the COU; and the contractors were therefore expected to tender to sub-contract to the COU. Be grateful for the crumbs you might receive.
Oh yes, and could they also take on more apprentices please.
Those builders who have been reliant upon the Council for work seem to be suffering, with little or no work coming out to them at the moment; despite Council promises to try to advance spending.
The problem seems to lie between making the political decision or noises, and actually having work being put out for tender.
As a consequence, I am told that one of the largest firms has placed all its staff on a three day week and another significant player has given notice to all employees that they will be made redundant in a couple of months, when the current order book is completed.
If my reading of the Council budgets is correct, then it is actually going to get much, much worse. It looks to me as if virtually the entire capital budget for 2011/12 has been committed to the new schools project leaving almost nothing for roads, building maintenance and all the usual projects.
The moral of this tale is: don't rely on the Council for your work.
Update 13/8: I am told that the contractors recently had a meeting with the Vice-Convener at which they were told about all the work that was shortly to come out for tender. The list was circulated, showing that all the work had already been allocated to the COU; and the contractors were therefore expected to tender to sub-contract to the COU. Be grateful for the crumbs you might receive.
Oh yes, and could they also take on more apprentices please.
11 comments:
One suggestion that floated around for a while before being shot down by the various factions that would be affected, was regarding the new primary school proposed for Benbecula.
Cast your mind back a few years ago when call centers were all the rage with WIE, so much so that they built one in Benbecula beside Sgoil Lionaclete and another in Daliburgh.
Such was the demand for occupancy that they eventually moved into the Benbecula one themselves, and the one in Daliburgh still lies empty.
The proposal was to convert the Benbecula one into the new pimary school which would be considerably enhanced by the easy accessibility to the Sgoil lionaclte sport infrastructure. The WIE staff would then be decamped to the empty unit in Daliburgh.
The saving to the public purse could be directed towards awarding the builders some work, and the Old school which is earmarked for the new site could be freed up for further development.
I may be unaware of practical obstacles to this proposal. but my point is that thinking outside the box will never come from either CNES or WIE.
This is an unforunate situation but not entirely unexpected. As everyone knows, overall funding which local builders have historicaly depended on is declining and will continue to do so. This will happen through the Comhairle and through funding streams from the Scottish Government. Additionally, it will take a considerable effort to rekindle the new house build market and house renovations for numerous reasons.
However, all is not necessarily lost and local builders could still continue. They need to help themselves however, with a bit of self examination and a reality check is required on their part. They must be competitive in their pricing, not pick and choose in the type of work they want to do and, do a decent and quality job and start and complete the work in a reasonable timescale (all issues do not necessarily apply to all local builders, you will have your own opinion).
There are many instances when builders are asked why prices at the level they are, and if there is any possibility of the builder looking at the price again and possibly reducing it. The answer inevitably given is that the price will not be reduced and is at a high level, because that is the price they want to charge, and can charge. Presumably, a decision taken in the absence of outside competition and an assumption that folk don't have any choice. But there is a choice.
The COU also needs to look closely at the way it is organised. In many instances, they in effect act as an agent if asked to undertake work. They don't necessarily utilise their own trades, seek a price from a local builder, then add their "10%".
Whilst involving local firms is with the best of intentions,as so many families depend financially on this sector and the Comhairle should be encouraged to whatever possible to stimulate the local building economy, the process is madness as the price is higher than it should be.
There are gaps in the market for builders who want to continue. Gone are the days when there is an automatic right to secure work and to charge artificially inflated prices, hiding behind our location and the cost of haulage, supplies etc, is a key issue.
I have abandoned plans to have work done on my house due to extortionate charges and very poor workmanship available.
Yeh, A couple of years ago I tried to get local builders to undertake some major improvements to my house, it would have totalled several thousands of pounds, but no they were all to 'busy' doing Council work and had no time for 'little' contracts. Well stuff them I thought I'll do it myself, so I did, I've gained considerable experience and saved quite a considerable ammount of money.
Do I have any sympathy for these builders? no not really, they were putting all there eggs into one basket, they just couldn't see that the gravy train would eventually run out, which anyone one with an ounce of intelligence could foresee. They forgot who, and what, it was that first got most of them on the road to success, the small domestic alterations and repair work, that is now almost impossible to get done, because the 'job is to small'.
Now of course thay will all be scratching around looking for these small jobs, anything in fact just to keep them going, but they will find that because they were not interested in the past many people, like me will have done it themselves and will continue to do so.
the comhairle has NO intentions of supporting the local construction industry if the past is anything to go by.
Look the the sports centre for instance - outside architects (islander architects who posess the skills, and expereience of this type of project arent considered) - outside contractors - outside sub-contractors.
In fact - the contractor on that project didnt even use local builders merchants. What scandelous madness is that!! the comhairle could and should be considering and stipulating that local business and practices are used at first instance, and any overflow then goes to the mainland.
Look to the new Schools project. Again outside architects (they dont have to live with the monstrosety theyve "designed") - already a pattern is repeating itself.
Watch this space - the schools project is a disaster waiting to happen....
Please name the "local" architects that would have the cover to insure against damages if such a project were to fail as has happened with the Sports Centre & Kallin harbour.
Its all about risk & cover and how smart the customer is when he plays with the high risk bandits.
8.11
Look at sports centre - large practice - council still got their fingers burnt.
PII (personal indemnity insurance) that architects legally have to have in order to practice can be increased to cover any size of project at any time.
To claim they are incpmpetent of covering themselves is complete and utter nonsense....
Is it beyond the wit of CNE to understand that positive discrimination in favour of Western Isles companies can actually help the local economy in the long term.
Awarding work to any mainland based company only serves to debilitate the community.
There are many examples of local companies that have had the rug pulled from under them by a combination of the councils awarding of tenders and a bias in funding support by WIE.
When can these two moribund institutions realise that they are the larger part of the problem, and certainly not part of the solution.
Of more concern, however, is that if you raise your head above the parapet and challenge either, then woe betide you. Professionalism quickly descends into the gutter where the effort of both organisations will be used to silence dissent.
Down in Uist I hear that Storas are also rapidly catching up in lessons on how to subjugate and exploit a compliant community.
At some point patience and tolerance of the charlatans will eventusally run out.
6.14 In our dreams! just heard that the council, health board and others have awarded another great wad of public funds to Aline Forest. Please can someone explain to me what the purpose is of this sink hole other than to keep certain local contractors in cash flow at our expense.
There's more than a fragment of truth in most of these posts.
But IMHO there's two real problems:
a)'The system' of contracting out public works is hopelessly biased towards large firms - complex contract documents, long lead times, punitive terms. This means that mainland firms almost always win out because only they are large enough (Uist Builders are about the only exception to this rule locally). Council officials also amuse themselves with the fantasy that we are all dying to 'go into partnership' with our commercial rivals just to get big enough to win public sector business. As if.
b) Comhairle and other public officials don't really like doing business with small outfits, especially local ones. They fear accusations of impropriety; or more often, assume that local and small equals incompetent. To avoid doing business locally, they most often hide behind a) above.
There's no one way of putting a stop to this, especially with national and EU legislation - but it wouldn't hurt if local authorities were required to publish how much money they put the way of local business.
And there's a lot more to the local economy than construction - some local businesses are doing very nicely out of the Comhairle and are keeping their heads down whilst they count the cash.
Builders may be one key indicator of the local economy, but there's more to the islands than tar, gravel and cement mixers.
4:56
Its to ensure Oppenheim has an access route for his turbines on to the hills of Eshkine.
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