Housing is high on the agenda

It is no surprise that we sit here in January 2015 with the “pledges” coming out from the politicans. Reading the proposal set out by the Labour party to increase number of units to 200,000 a year (feels still to low but it’s a start) leaves you only feeling how predictable it all is. There is some hope in the proposal in that to achieve this (partly) they will provide small housebuilders finance – as lets be honest it is the only way the targets can be met. The national housebuilders are doing pretty well at the moment and yet we are still way off the target number of houses needed each year. The benefit of the smaller housebuilder is that they can develop in smaller communities and yes these 10-20 size plots do soon tot up.

An underlying problem is skills – there is a shortage, albeit things seem to moving in the right direction. There has been research released by RICS stating that by 2019 Yorkshire construction will be impacted by a skills shortage. Sounds realistic, I know at least 20 contractors, all of whom live in Yorkshire but work in London as it pays better. But if the shortage is leaving local businesses turning down work (which they are) then something needs to change. Is paying them more the answer?

When you last moved jobs, were you counter-offered
INDUSTRY	PROPORTION COUNTER-OFFERED LAST TIME THEY MOVED JOBS
Construction & Engineering	21%
Technology and IT	21%
Finance	11%
Health & Social are	7%
Education	3%
UK Average	8%
	Source: Randstad

 Well research above shows it is precisely what is happening – does make you wonder how many people are just looking elsewhere in a hope to get a pay rise, or is that just the cynic in me. Is this an admission of failure though. If you wanted to keep them, why not reward them – financially and in other ways – before they look for a job. Are employers taking advantage?

At the moment the industry is faced with delivering low margin jobs agreed during the downturn and as a result as material costs increase and margins remain low they are under pressure to keep labour costs down, but they can’t afford to lose you – pay them modestly and hope they stay, but if they look elsewhere offer them more. Just remember though that news travels in the construction industry quicker than [insert your own analogy]. It will not be long before a 3% wide scale payrise, which is cheap and effective, is a better thought than 15% one off hikes.

Feel free to contact me 0113 288 2276 or lee.a.wilkinson@uk.pwc.com if you wish to discuss this blog or anything relevant to property and construction.

Enjoy the weekend

Lee

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