Build UK – Single voice or sick joke?

Written by Barry Ashmore, co-founder of StreetwiseSubbie.com Ltd

Following the launch of Build UK at the beginning of September, I read a whole host of articles and stories about the aspirations of this shiny new organisation formed as a result of the merger between the National Specialist Contractors Council and the UK Contractors Group.

Many of those articles clearly outlined Build UK’s claim that it will provide, “for the first time, a single voice for the whole of the contracting supply chain and offers a real opportunity to transform the construction.” Reading all this was music to my ears, and many others involved in the construction industry I imagine. A very worthy aim but, and it’s a big but, one that I feel is sadly unattainable for a number of reasons.

• Build UK is made up of “27 of the largest major contractors” and “40 trade associations representing over 11,500 specialist contractors”. How on earth can 67 separate businesses and associations speak with one single voice? Each one will undoubtedly have its own separate agenda and, come on, main contractors and specialist contractors singing from the same hymn sheet? It’s like poachers and gamekeepers joining forces – it will never happen.
• There are, indeed, some huge household names cited in the member and partnership section of the Build UK website. If you contacted any of them tomorrow, would they know the specific aims of “the ‘go to’ representative organisation for industry stakeholders” that they belong to? Even if they did, would they be able to explain exactly how these aims are being achieved on a day-to-day basis by the very organisation they are part of that purports to “provide influential and dynamic leadership and a joined up approach from the supply chain”? The short answer is, no.
• Build UK professes to “focus on key industry issues that can deliver change and enable the contracting supply chain to improve the efficiency and delivery of construction projects to the benefit of the industry’s clients.” Just take a look at any one of those ‘issues’ and you’ll realise that Build UK has a truly immense task on its hands to offer solutions. They could be at this a while…
• Referring to point 3, I do see, however, a very quick win for Build UK in the shape of the ‘fair payment practices’ issue. I’ll give the executive board the solution to this one for free. Cut through the PR flimflam of “considering what fair payment practice in the construction industry looks like” – we ALL know what it currently looks like and it’s both soul and business destroying. Fact. Main contractors, pay your subbies on time, every time and the problem will be resolved overnight. Now that was easy wasn’t it?
• In Build UK’s “Action Plan”, it states that: “quite simply, construction is what everything else relies on.” It’s very refreshing to hear this tone of voice but, quite frankly, they’re hollow words. UK construction is a huge, multi-billion pound industry employing millions of people which is why the Government, and the banks, can’t let it fail. The problem is, it is failing but it’s the subcontractors at the very bottom of the pile that are being failed by the existing system. Six construction firms are going bust every single day but no one at the top cares*. Well they should. Why? Because if you take specialist contractors out of the equation, there would be no UK construction industry whatsoever.

I could go on and if anyone from Build UK, board directors, members or partners, would like to contact me, I would be happy to discuss it.

On a daily basis, at StreetwiseSubbie.com we help to pick up the pieces from the fall-out of skills shortages, HR problems, non- or late-payment and legal battles. We support specialist subcontractors to win more work and get paid (on time!) for it. We’re already doing what Build UK aims to achieve and we’re doing it very well.

Perhaps more ‘talking’ will somehow lead to solutions to the serious issues that Build UK says it is attempting to tackle, but somehow I doubt it After all, actions speak louder than words. And if the main contractor’s business model relies on paying its specialist contractors after 90 days, no amount of asking or talking will persuade them to pay in 30 days.

Or am I missing something?

Anyway, I know this is a hot topic so I would love to hear from you, Construction UK’s readers, about your views on Build UK and any experiences you may have had over the last couple of months, good or bad.

One last thought. This might all just be a cunning plan by Ms Nichols and co. to lull contractors into a false sense of security before turning on them, and selling them out completely!

Maybe Build UK does have a plan after all…

 

Sources:

* Office of National Statistics’ figures; in the 12 months ending Q4 2014, the highest number of liquidations was in the construction sector at 2,317, with 578 compulsory liquidations and 1,739 creditors’ voluntary liquidations.

 

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