[ Business advice ]
Help at hand
I
t will come as scant comfort to members, but Martin Wade, ECA’s head of commercial contracts and legal, fears the worst of the recession has yet to fi lter through to the construction industry.
‘A lot of buildings were commissioned before it struck,’
he says. ‘It can take three or four years before our registered members get on site, and some are still involved in the fag end of that process. This year we will be hit by a lack of commissions.’ However, adversity could provide the chance for those in
the industry to study what they’re doing, how they’re doing it – and fi nd out where the best practical help may lie. Anyone running a business in the current climate hardly needs telling that tough decisions have to be
About the author
Andrew Mourant
Andrew Mourant is a freelance journalist specialising in business, education and the rail industry. He has written regularly for The Independent,
The Sunday Telegraph,
The Guardian and many magazines.
The recession may be over, but the recovery is still fragile – and businesses need all the help they can get. Andrew Mourant looks at what’s on offer
made. Saving money often entails making valued staff redundant, or at least cutting hours and wages. Yet some who have done it have found a level of understanding that was not apparent in previous downturns. Nevertheless, Wade warns that letting people go may not be the cheapest option because of the cost of redundancies. He also warns registered members against chasing work
at any price – though that’s an understandable temptation when you can’t see where the next job is coming from. ‘It does happen – people chasing turnover rather than profi t; buying your work and doing it at below cost,’ he says. Calls for help from Wade and his team from ECA
members were relatively low in 2009, but ‘have picked up quite signifi cantly as they’ve suddenly hit the buffers’.
Summer 2010 ECA Today 37
SHUTTERSTOCK
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