“Construction workers are lazy and incompetent”
That is the damning verdict from Eddy Shah, the media legend turned housebuilder. In a showhouse.co.uk exclusive, Shah says the construction industry is worse than the old print unions.Twenty-five years ago my company, Messenger Newspapers Group, took the print unions to task because they were useless, selfish, lazy, institutionally corrupt and never forward-looking to a brighter, more successful future. They were the experts of the take, take, take‚ society.
The attitudes of their fellow comrades in other unions led to the destruction of the steel, shipbuilding, coal, motor industries and other industrial bases – and they did it in the name of socialism and the working class. They were, to many of us ordinary workers in the 60s, 70s and early 80s, the destroyers of our democratic heritage. But they had the muscle and they could bully the government over and over again. What chance was there for the worker who simply wanted a good day’s wage for a good day’s work and a share in the profits of our labour?
Eventually, through the 80s and 90s, common sense prevailed and new technology helped build our prosperity. Since then, the unions have concentrated on trying to manipulate the public sector with their power and left the private sector to build the riches that we all now benefit from.
Two years ago my wife Jennifer and I launched a company with the sole aim to build green homes at affordable prices and bring down the cost of housing. It was a challenge we relished and we built 44 homes in Wiltshire. They were the first step in completing homes that achieved the Code for Sustainable Homes level 4. We used heat transfer pumps and existing technology, and brought back space, so people were not being forced to live in ever more cramped conditions, as houses got smaller. The cost of the properties was also 35 per cent cheaper than equivalent homes in the market.
But we found one thing had not gone away. The spirit of the corrupt trade unions still lives on in the construction industry. In fact, I preferred the staff in the print industry.
It is easy to blame planners, government policies, petty officials and big businesses with their inefficient bureaucratic structures and lack of dynamic management. They do not help, but they are not the root cause of our high prices and shoddy building.
That, I have learnt, falls at the feet of our construction workers. They are lazy and incompetent, often working no more than five hours a day. Shoddy in their workmanship, they have no pride in their efforts and spend more time avoiding work than doing it.
If they spent the same effort working as they do ducking out of work, we would have one of the most efficient construction industries in the world. I have seen builders in Africa and America. They are far superior to our lot. I would employ Poles tomorrow and pay a higher rate because I know they would do a better job.
Not all construction workers are the useless idle. Many of them are good at what they do and consider themselves professional. But they are held back by the ‘no-goodniks’.
I watched some of these so-called workers building our homes. What follows now is a typical day in their lives.
7.30am: Arrive and park in car park. Read paper and wait until 8am to start.
8am: Walk down to site, chatting. Take at least ten minutes. Finally pick up tools for work at 8.20. Actually start working at 8.30. Take at least five mobile phone calls and have a few laughs in-between, slowing all the other workers down. Stare threateningly at project manager.
9.45am: Down tools and walk, whilst chatting, up for their 10am: Tea-break. Minimum 30 minutes. Possibly drive to the local shops, adding the time to the tea break.
10.40am – 10.50am: Return to site and continue with bursts of frantic work, punctuated with mobile phone calls and ‘having a laugh’. When asked why they are on the phone, look hurt and say “It’s the boss, I’m checking that I’m doing the right thing”. From the sound of laughter, presume the boss is also ‘having a laugh’.
12pm –1pm: Lunch – minimum one hour.
3pm: Another short tea break, then the ten-minute walk to the white vans and it is
going home time.
I saw this pattern for nearly a year. The main culprits were the painters and decorators, electricians and plumbers – what are laughingly called “the trades”. The grounds work teams, the roofers and the timber frame specialists, worked hard because they were on fixed prices and they needed to get away to other jobs. The rest were just drifters.
They splashed paint all over the place, including on carpets; scratched new windows, left seals off doors and put handles on upside down.
They left expensive fittings outside to warp or rust in the rain, stole light bulbs and showerheads, did not mastic correctly and left fittings off pipes which would leak after the builders had gone, creating more work through their lack of pride and common sense.
Were they stupid or just did not care? In one instance, when we were taking toilets away, we asked the men to use the ones still connected up. Guess which ones they used. And then left the mess for our staff to clean up. It makes you wonder how they live at home.
The government says it’s going to train construction workers. The first thing they need to instil is pride and discipline and a far greater emphasis on quality control.
In spite of them, we produced 44 damn good homes.
We have learnt a great deal from our first venture. Next time there will be specific parameters and rules. Otherwise – leave the site now.
We have all heard the horror stories of cowboy builders. They are true. We need trained construction staff – people who are professional and well paid for completing a fine job.
Control the wastage of time and costs will come spiralling down.
And do not just blame the workers. As we used to say in newspapers, the management got the unions they deserved. Maybe the same applies to the building managements.
We are entering a downturn in construction. Perhaps, as it did in the media, the cowboys will run and we will finally get the professional builders we need.
The Wiltshire Leisure Village is a 240-acre development of eco-friendly holiday lodges overlooking a golf course. 44 have been built with 72 planned in total. The properties are priced from £214,000. Visit www.the-wiltshire.co.uk.
For a full profile of Eddy Shah read Builder’s Breakfast from Show House July 2007.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction workers group UCATT, also quoted in Building, was scathing, calling Shah, who founded Today newspaper, a “failed newspaper boss” who “spouts rubbish”.
“Maybe if construction bosses actually looked after their workforce rather than spending their time trying to ensure they do not have to pay standard benefits such as holiday pay, the industry would be more productive,” said Ritchie.
This is exactly the sort of industry debate showhouse.co.uk wants to encourage – and by registering on the site you too can have your say.
Kate Hamilton, editor, Show House