Building services and construction

In our November 2004 edition, Chris Green from Trade Skills Training Limited highlighted current and expected growth of the construction industry around the UK, and the national recruiting requirement for 76,000 people each year across all trades and disciplines. That figure has now increased to a staggering 82,000 per year over the next five years. Increases in some regions will be more than double this figure.

With Service leavers’ interest in careers in plumbing, electrics, bricklaying and carpentry, this article will examine building services engineering as well as construction, and correct some misconceptions about these two vital UK industries.

Building services engineering

All buildings need supporting services after they has been built and the building services engineering industry includes electrical, heating, ventilation, refrigeration, and air conditioning and plumbing. SummitSkills (www.summitskills.com) is the sector skills council for the sector. The industry contains 51,000 businesses and 558,000 individuals; 107,000 of them work in plumbing with the majority being sole traders. With an annual turnover of £19.3 billion, the sector represents between 2 and 3 per cent of the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Construction

Comprising over 25,000 businesses employing 1,400,000 individuals, the construction industry is worth around £110 billion (10 per cent of GDP) and plays a huge part in the economy and life of every part of the UK. ConstructionSkills www.constructionskills.co.uk is its sector skills council. The industry includes a broad range of occupations, including painting and decorating, roofing, bricklaying, plastering, and carpentry and joinery. All these trades are in demand throughout the UK.

Skills in demand

Employers have difficulty in finding people with the following skills:

· bricklayers – 28 per cent

· carpenters and joiners – 32 per cent

· plasterers – 16 per cent

· plumbers/heating/ventilation engineers – 16 per cent

· roofers – 7 per cent

· electricians – 3 per cent.

Giving the industry a positive image

To overcome the cowboy image sometimes associated with construction, good employers want people who are prepared to honour codes of professional standards to demonstrate professionalism, competence and responsibility. They need to comply with laws, regulations, standards and codes to safeguard the environment and public health and safety, and broaden, improve and maintain their skills, knowledge and personal qualities. Likely questions are:

· Where do I start?

· What qualifications do I need?

· What’s the next step?

Most trades need an NVQ at Level 2 or 3 to be classed as qualified but NVQs take time to achieve using a combination of off-the-job training with a local college or training provider and working with an employer in the sector. ‘Quickie’ courses aimed at the DIY market may be useful for background or the most basic skills, but hardly prepare someone to become a skilled trades person. Starting from zero, it is not possible to gain an NVQ during resettlement training.

Employers will probably look for at least basic practical skills and essential knowledge gained from a respected City & Guilds qualification or foundation award so that they can at least put the apprentice to work alongside more experienced and qualified people. Hopefully, they will encourage beginners to further their knowledge and work towards an NVQ.

What next?

People must be aware of the latest information about changes to legislation and qualifications. For example, from 1 January 2005, electricians must have a Building Regulations Part P certificate before they are deemed competent to carry out mains electrical work. Sectors are generally moving towards regulation and licensing of qualified practitioners, perhaps along CORGI lines. This ensures that skills and knowledge are constantly updated and reassures customers that they are getting the right service. Registration and licensing takes time and costs money, but professionals will reap the benefits.

Salaries

Salaries vary according to skills, experience and location, but the following averages provide some guidance:

· apprentice £12,000–£17,000

· qualified £18,000–£30,000.

Overtime may well be significant at these two levels. Self-employment is harder to predict, but someone with an established own business might bring in £50,000–£70,000 a year with hard work.

It is not as easy to be a skilled trades person as people might think and there are no shortcuts to gaining the all-important on-the-job experience. Some tales of potential salaries are exaggerated and the money will only be as much as the market will bear. Franchising may be attractive to some people, but start-up can be expensive. As a sole trader, being in charge of your own destiny may be appealing but the buck stops with you and there may be little chance for holidays if you need to, say, keep up mortgage payments.

Hundreds of Service leavers already enjoy working in these sectors, and levels of interest remain high. Regulation, registration and licensing are likely to get tougher but, with their background, Service leavers are more likely to embrace that process than fear it.