Are Foreign Workers Killing The UK Building & Construction Trade?
Are Foreign Workers Killing The UK Building & Construction Trade
?Are Foreign Workers Killing The Building & Construction Trade?
Just have a spot of lunch in any builder's cafe and chances are you get only one clear opinion on the merits of foreign workers and the UK Building & Construction Trade.
The Building & Construction Trade Has Changed for Ever
There was a time when you worked on larger building sites that it was almost exclusively British or at best with a liberal sprinkling or Irish. Nowadays however, if you visit any large building site you are likely to hear a wide selection of languages been spoken as there has been a huge influx in foreign workers entering the UK Building & Construction Trade.
Whilst there is no doubt the industry has changed the question I'm asking is if the changes are for the better or the worse. All changes have a negative and positive effect regardless. For example you can now get a building laborer in London for an average pay of 40.00 per day whilst the costs back in 1980 - some 30 years ago - was around 50.00. One thing is for certain and that is there are plenty of businesses out there that are more than happy to exploit the foreign workers to make some extra cash.
Back in the 60/70's you could find 200 Irish men in Kilburn High Street at 5am on a Monday morning as at that time they were the foreign workers of the day and of course were grossly exploited. In the years that followed the Irish worked diligently and gradually shook of their exploitative masters and no doubt some of them took on the role of exploiter for the next generation of Irish workers just arrived.
So here we are 40/50 years later and nothing much seem to have changed other than nationality of the exploited. In recent years it was the Poles who came here in their thousands to face the problems of language and exploitation. The British consumer soon got on the bandwagon and became quickly aware that there were savings to be had by using Polish building workers. With new players in the marketplace that had virtually no overheads, and had little or no intention to pay taxes the prices for building & construction services stabilized.
In areas such as London where Polish workers were operating the competition was felt and not only stabilized prices but in fact brought prices down dramatically. Where as before, builders were able to put in reasonable and even inflated prices now they were lucky to actually get any work. Layoffs were considerable as jobs dried up in favor of the cheaper Polish tradesmen which were followed by even more eastern European workers who were undercutting the Polish. Over time it was clear that this wasn't just a trend but in fact migration was in fact driving thousands of British workers out of the building & construction trade.
Have Times Got Hard For UK Builders?
Ask the average small builder about how their business is ticking over and they will tell you that times are tough. Recession is one things but the foreign workers have killed the industry almost entirely. Its quite common now that when you visit a client to inspect a job with the intention of providing an estimate you are competing against whole families of builders that have little or no overheads, no insurance and no intention of paying tax so they can under cut the job by half and still do well from it.
Are The Homeowners Getting A Good Deal?
Clearly not, as the standard of some of the foreign workers is way below the UK standards. Whilst they may be trying to do good work unfortunately the majority have no idea about building regulations, safety issues and have no experience whatsoever in the services they provide.
Another huge issue is the communication. it's not uncommon that you might have five or six builders working in a team and only one speaks English. The odds of coming back and finding the wrong wall has been removed or the cat hatch is in the wrong door is high.
Most homeowners need a little direction on their projects so just imagine if you will having a team of foreign workers building your extension or renovating your home when they haven't got a clue about the structure of the building, popular trends or the actual safety & building regulations. It's a recipe for disaster and it happens all the time. One of the recent cases I head on the news was about the client that wasn't happy about the work done my a group of Polish builders. When the client refused to pay the builders moved into the clients home and squatted.
I don't know how that one was resolved but it fair to say that that's one client that won't be using foreign workers in the future.
Conclusion
There are several factors to consider when engaging the services of builders. If you just consider the actual costs of the project as the basis for hiring a builder then you are likely to run into trouble.
Good communication skills are a must for any project as you need to be able to express your requirements clearly & concisely.
What about:
Professionalism?
Knowledgebase?
References
These are just a few points and of course other thorny issue include black economy and illegal workers. Anyone who considers all these issues before hiring a builder is improving the odds in his/her favour of getting a decent job.
To compare costs for any kind of Building Services or Home Improvement Projects visit Building Contractors Supermarket The UK's No: Price Comparison Site for UK Builders New Online Store for Quality Plush Stuffed Animals Online Project Management Certification Training Online Data Entry - A Lucrative Job? Using Online Fundraising Products to Raise Money for a Social Cause Protecting The System Against Online Threats Payment Systems When Dealing With Chinese Traders Save Money on Taxes by Donating To ‘Tax-Exempt' Online Charities Connecting With Online Donation Group to Start a Fundraising Campaign Psychics That Won't Rob You Blind! The Truth About Online Psychic Hotlines Ridgeway Online Banking Availability How to Find the Best Online Billiard and Pool Tournaments how to make money online Online Faxing Is a Normal Part of Communications Convergence