Builders Have No Work

[homeless]

I work in the building trades, im self employed fitting upvc fascias and the like.

I know all the guys in my town that also work in it and the only work there getting now is insurance work.

Everyone and there dog at the moment is putting in claims. no-one is getting nothing if they cant get it on the insurance.And theres a huge rise in dubious fluffed out claim scams going on.

Firms that specialise in fire and flood are the only ones making money everyone else is laying people off, or joining in the insurance scams.This to me is the surest sign of trouble ahead.Last year there was loads of work for everyone, you couldnt keep up with the work.

In my regular material suppliers there seeing this as well, after 10 am in the morning the builder merchants are now deserted, they used to be full all day.And in my work first hand there has been a huge switch between getting all new soffits/fascias/guttering, to customers just wanting there old guttering leak repaired and make do.My own % of jobs quoted to getting has gone from 50% to around 20%(which means to get 1 job im now needing to do more than twice the quotes taking twice the time).

And there is a huge rise in the waster calls the ones where the people cant even afford 50 or 100 pounds to have a repair done.

From last summer i estimate also most jobs actually being done now are to get the work done to sell the house, this percentage has grown massively.

Needless to say im joining the insurance work bandwagon like most others if they can get it.you can expect your insurance premiums to rise massively this year, I always think this is a sure sign of a recession coming.

[Ritters]

I knew something was not quite right.

My sister is having a new kitchen fitted and the plumber who's doing work has turned up on time, usually they fail to turn up and never call

[Clouseau]

I work in the building trades, im self employed fitting upvc fascias and the like.

I know all the guys in my town that also work in it and the only work there getting now is insurance work.

Everyone and there dog at the moment is putting in claims. no-one is getting nothing if they cant get it on the insurance.And theres a huge rise in dubious fluffed out claim scams going on.

Firms that specialise in fire and flood are the only ones making money everyone else is laying people off, or joining in the insurance scams.This to me is the surest sign of trouble ahead.Last year there was loads of work for everyone, you couldnt keep up with the work.

In my regular material suppliers there seeing this as well, after 10 am in the morning the builder merchants are now deserted, they used to be full all day.And in my work first hand there has been a huge switch between getting all new soffits/fascias/guttering, to customers just wanting there old guttering leak repaired and make do.My own % of jobs quoted to getting has gone from 50% to around 20%(which means to get 1 job im now needing to do more than twice the quotes taking twice the time).

And there is a huge rise in the waster calls the ones where the people cant even afford 50 or 100 pounds to have a repair done.

From last summer i estimate also most jobs actually being done now are to get the work done to sell the house, this percentage has grown massively.

Needless to say im joining the insurance work bandwagon like most others if they can get it.you can expect your insurance premiums to rise massively this year, I always think this is a sure sign of a recession coming.

From the horse's mouth - very interesting & significant post, thanx..

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

I always think this is a sure sign of a recession coming.

The recession came last January IMHO.

[FTBagain]

homeless,

Thank you for your honest post. Please accept my best wishes to for and yours in the troubled times ahead. The good times will return, in the meantime, good luck!

FTBagain

[halebop]

one builder in my area {new-build housing }

dont want to name which one

has laid of most of its joiners /brickies

talking to the site manager the other day

they are down to a skeleton workforce

1 site manager

1 labourer

and a few ground workers

1 painter aswell but he was a subby

houses just not selling the only way they were was thru p/ex

will only build when sold

doesnt look 2 promising

[Dames]

Yep, the amount of stories of stock not selling on my site visits is mounting as well.

Hatches starting to be battoned down I reckon.

D

[halebop]

another builder {the biggest in uk} i think?

or at least it has the biggest land bank

has sold one house since the site started in febuary

[Smurf1976]

Noticed today that a reasonably big local builder has an advertisement amongst the houses for sale in the real estate guide. And some of their newly built houses are amongst them. The big thing though is that their main point was the rate they charge for building per square (which seems to have come down). And they're throwing in everything from sensors on downlights through to air conditioning and a bigger water heater to try and get work. This comes after they moved their office too.

[dog]

Homeless

Are you and the other guys self employed and does your name appear in the unemployment statistics when work is flat?

[homeless]

self employed people dont get any benifits, and i doubt any would ask for them anyway.I will be able to survive ok, i have no mortgage or debt and a nice stash put away.And i always get enough work to tick over.The ones that suffer first are always the ones that work for someone else, there the first to go.

[magictorch]

Homeless I can confirm that the trade is completely flat. Plumbers, brickies and chippies are all waiting for the phone to ring. I agree with Charlie, its already started....

We wait in hope

[halebop]

homeless sounds like me and you are in the same boat mate

dog work is slack im a subby just ticking over few days a week

and youre right i wont be showing up in the statistics

ive got a good stash and doing a few days a week still gives me

average wage round here so im not worried yet

ps: does anyone think its too late to buy gold coins

[timetopaythepiper]

Another one here that can confirm what homeless is saying. My partner is self-employed, has a flooring business, and the phone is getting quieter by the month. I sometimes put an ad in the local rag adding that we do insurance jobs and the jobs come flowing in again.

Same boat as you homeless, no debt, a bit of savings and can tick over when its quiet.

[dog]

self employed people dont get any benifits, and i doubt any would ask for them anyway.I will be able to survive ok, i have no mortgage or debt and a nice stash put away.And i always get enough work to tick over.The ones that suffer first are always the ones that work for someone else, there the first to go.

I absolutely agree with you.

Of course the government statistics will exploit this and pretend that people in the building industry are still fully employed.

[dogbox]

Guys, weve had carpenters to quote this week. They want £225 per day.

Weve also had bathroom fitters quoting similar.

2 plasterers each quoted £400 per day, they do polished plastering. Dont think Ill be using them.

They all appear to be banged - out with work.

This is Hertfordshire just outside London.

Are they about to go quiet (in which case we might wait for prices to faall), or as I suspect are we paying London prices, as Londoners continue to spend?

[Marina]

homeless,

Thank you for your honest post. Please accept my best wishes to for and yours in the troubled times ahead. The good times will return, in the meantime, good luck!

Have to say I can't see the good times returing - at least not for a very long time. There are so many things structurally wrong with our economy - they are not going to be fixed quickly - if at all. We need to adapt to the fact that in China goods are produced for a fraction of what the western economies can make them for, and, in time, China and India will have the capacity to supply the world.

How much to have all your soffits and fascias renewed? 2k? How many people actually save 2k up to have it done? How many people stick 5k on the mortgage, get the soffits and fascias removed and have a holiday, or trade up their car?

The MEWing days are over - time to look for a new job I'm afraid.

FTBagain

[halebop]

dogbox

i earn the same money youve quoted for your repairs a day in the north

problem is you get used to it so you quote the same when pricing but the boom days are gone

hence you dont get the work !

depending on how bad or good it gets i will revise

[Justice]

Good post

The same happened during the last recession when I was in the building trade and work dropped of from £700 pw to £250 pw and that was after working my ass off.

Crime picked up too.

Brown has had his credit boom so nows the bust

[unamerican]

Good post

The same happened during the last recession when I was in the building trade and work dropped of from £700 pw to £250 pw and that was after working my ass off.

Crime picked up too.

Brown has had his credit boom so nows the bust

the bust was due in 2003 but the Iraq war saved the day,

having seen how effective a decisive war can be in picking up economic confidence they will try the trick again,

why wouldnt they ?

[ILBB]

My son's a builder and he has tons of work on (eight months ahead) and is having to turn further work down.

(West Yorkshire).

BTW - It would help if you posters gave a clue as to which part of the country they're seeing the situation from!

[Guest consa]

Lets not all get confused here:

The larger builders will be losing work but the smaller ones should be picking up slightly.

Why?

People are not moving, they are extending, I am inundated with work for extensions and the odd new build where people have a big enough garden.

Double glazing will be hit as this is more of a luxury item and correlated to the larger builders.

Brickies will be hit quite hard IMO

[bird101]

I've got an up-market carpentry business in Cambridgeshire which has been growing steadily for the last couple of years. I've noticed a distinct fall in enquiries in the last few months. I'm still booked up 6 weeks ahead but I'm not turning away work like I used to.

I also planned to take on a new carpenter in October but I'm thinking twice about it now. I nipped into the Jobcentre the other day to check out going rates and there's not much work around and it's all short-term contracts.

I've also started getting calls from carpenters looking for work. That's never happened before!

I've known for some time that this time would inevitably come and have a plan in place to move into a lower sector of the market doing improvements for selling. I think maybe the time has come to put it into action.

Interesting times for sure. I'm glad I'm not in new-builds.

[Brian Potter]

The construction industry is - take my word for it - running at record levels at the moment. In the Manchester area work is guaranteed for at least 12-18 months with work in progress.

I am a freelance consultant and I could literally fill my week twice over. I too am worried about recession, however, the silver lining is the Olympics which will suck capacity out of the industry for years leaving the regions under resourced.

Since I am naturally a half empty glass kind of guy I am cautious as the level of flat builds for example cannot be sustained, however, construction has an ageing skilled and management force with no new blood coming in significantly for the last 15 years. Job losses of the scale of the 90's are not possible because the people dont exist.

Skilled trades are generally now from Poland, Slovenia, Croatia etc. If you dont believe me walk around any site in Manchester.

[Nelly]

I concur with the above I am a plasterer

and theres loads of work everywhere