There has certainly been a resurgence in the Construction and House Building sectors and already we are seeing the affects this is having on the availability of Professional and Qualified talent.
Various Government house building incentives along with commencement and approval for major infrastructure projects is leading to a demand for skilled and experienced staff that we haven’t witnessed for a number of years.
Says Ken Wood “ I can remember the late 80’s boom where companies and organisations struggled to keep hold of their qualified and trained staff due to the competition for their skills - and already it seems the risk of this happening again is high”
So what effect could this have on the Social Housing sector? We all know that tenders are in circulation from major organisations that cover Repair and Maintenance work, Materials Supply as well as the provision of Temporary Staff. All of these have been subject to pressure from the buyer to drive prices down and in most cases suppliers have accepted this approach, albeit with concern about the pressures this brings for suppliers and applicants.
Now however with demand starting to recover the writing could be on the wall for some tactics such as reverse e-auctions etc. Perhaps the balance isn’t quite right in terms of quality and cost and perhaps procurement will have to take a very serious look at the way contracts are awarded and even look to revising their price weighting formulas to take this into account.
The desire for best value is taken as read but that must not be at the cost of receiving a quality service and sourcing quality applicants.
