Damn Statistics. How qualified tradesmen & builders can win..

Today I found a positive story in the Sunday papers relating to the construction sector. Yippee! Maybe I should frame it. The announcement that minister Eamon Ryan is launching the national insulation programme to boost jobs in the construction sector. Great stuff, Minister!

More on this again, although I wanted to start with some good news before I commented on the latest CSO statistics. Reporting on the the relative health of the sector for tradesmen and builders, its bad news for some but there is something we can do about it..

The facts

The CSO (Central Statistics Office) Quarterly Planning Permissions Granted, Q1 2001- Q3 2008, report makes interesting reading. New constructions aside, (as Onlinetradesmen.com members are primarily focused on extension and refurbishments) Q3 2008 has shown a decrease of 20% in the number of planning permissions granted for house extensions nationwide when compared to the same period in in 2007. In numeric terms, permission for house extensions has dropped from a high in Q3 2007 of 5,210 to 4,166 in Q3 2008 - the lowest number since Q3 2003. The Q3 number is significant as this is the busiest period for permissions annually. In the same period the number of 'House Alteration and conversions' that received planning, was down some 15% in Q3 2008 (711) from Q3 2007 (837).

In addition to the above, the statistics show that in Q3 2008 the average size of extensions granted permission was 112.8 sq. meters (this must include renovations as well). This is down from an average house extension size of 144 sq meters in Q3 2007.

Reasons to be cheerful

OK, granted, there aren't many - but there are some. Planning permission only applies for extensions of 40 sq meters and above, with smaller extensions not registering in the CSO's figures. What the CSO's numbers do reflect are that there is a nationwide trend towards smaller extensions - something that Onlinetradesmen.com can confirm, with significant activity on our service for smaller extension types. What is also ignored are is the non extension related activity within the trade sector. General home improvement have increased nationwide according to figures on Onlinetradesmen.com, with smaller projects such as bathrooms, flooring, painting and decorating up over 15% on previous quarters years.

How to buck the trends

We can't argue that fact that there are now too many tradesmen competing for too little business in the domestic sector here. So something has to give, right ? The knee jerk reaction has been that prices have fallen and the customer, on the face of it at least, has benefited. However, I wonder how sustainable this is. In a race to the bottom nobody will win in the end. In my next blog post I will outline my own thoughts on how tradesmen and builders can differentiate themselves in a tight market and win more business. So, because of time constraints (it is a Sunday!), I'll outline these in the next post and finish with the time honoured phrase of
....TO BE CONTINUED...