House builders and subcontractors must collaborate more effectively – report

The findings come in a report entitled: The Case for Collaboration in the Homebuilding Supply Chain. The report is the first major piece of work to be undertaken for the new Home Building Skills Partnership (HBSP), a pan industry body set up by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and Home Builders Federation (HBF) in June to ensure the industry has the skills it needs to deliver.

The report was based on research conducted with 20 large UK housebuilders and 204 subcontractors, who in total employ up to 150,000 workers.

In highlighting some of the challenges faced, the report found that:

• 40% of subcontractors that do or wish to take on apprentices have difficulty recruiting them and experience frustrating drop-out rates
• 60% intend to recruit more direct employees in the next 12 months
• 60% intend to take on apprentices in 2016
• 14% report difficulty training and developing existing staff in new things (e.g. modern methods, new technology)
• 25% of subcontractors that directly employ staff report difficulty in keeping hold of good staff as long as they would like
• 50% of subcontractors that do or wish to take on new staff report difficulties recruiting direct employees

Steve Radley, director of policy at CITB, said: “This research provides new insight into home building supply chains and how they work, which is a critical first step to tackling the skills challenge in home building. The new partnership and the evidence it has brought together offers the best opportunity in years to foster much closer working in the sector, which will improve skills, help companies become more productive and cost effective, and ultimately help us build the homes we need.”

John Tutte, chair of the HBSP added: “The relationship between homebuilders and subcontractors is absolutely critical in terms of how the industry recruits and delivers and it is imperative we work more closely together. The report provides some key insight into how we can collaborate more effectively to deliver improved training processes and ultimately increase capacity.”