Case study: Trend Controls
Trend Controls, a manufacturer and supplier of building energy
management systems, uses an ECA trainer to provide in-house training for its
HVAC Fundamentals Course – BC01. The two-day course gives delegates a clear understanding of the theory behind heating, ventilating and air conditioning, as well as building technology. The sessions culminate in a multiple choice exam. Training co-ordinator Sheila Wetherill says: ‘The
BC01course was introduced to augment Trend’s already popular and successful training course schedule by offering our customers and staff an additional and more general HVAC training course – and we have been using ECA successfully for a number of years. Most of Trend Controls’ training courses are product-related and taught by our own staff. However, the BC01 course suited our needs for more general HVAC training perfectly. Candidates receive a certificate from ECA after successfully passing the exam at the end of the course.’
‘Once the going gets hard, the industry becomes much more adversarial,’ he says. The inevitable result is banks and clients trying to squeeze contractors.
Contractual obligations
Electrical contractors have high levels of technical ability, but may not be adept at managing tricky contracts. These are a trap for the unwary, which is where the ECA can help. Registered members could, for instance, find out too
late that they’ve signed up to validate a design. This is not only time-consuming but may lead to all sorts of liability issues, Wade says. Of course there is public indemnity insurance but it isn’t cheap. In a world where everyone wants to bounce the risk onto everyone else, Wade says it’s ‘essential to make sure you know what you’re being asked to do’. Moreover ECA members should carry out ‘sound contract
For small operations, going through a business health check document can be two or three hours well spent
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ECA Today Summer 2010
administration’ – many agreements give contractors the right to vary work even when on site. ‘You need to keep very good records and confirm things in writing,’ he warns. So where could the good news, if any, lie, and what
could that mean for ECA registered members? ‘We do have some megaprojects such as Crossrail and the end of the Olympics, and they’re still building in the Square Mile.’ However, while Wade sees some optimism within the M25, the provinces show ‘very little evidence’ of major new developments in the pipeline.
Work together
But he says there is pent-up cash sitting mostly in foreign banks, which are keen to lend to big commercial developments such as ‘super-prime’ residential schemes.
So smaller ECA members should be prepared to team up and bid for a piece of the action ‘in order to give themselves a critical mass’. They should also join forces to pursue public sector
work on offer from county and borough councils because Sector Framework Agreements now allow bigger firms to muscle in – ‘national contractors which bring in their own subcontractors’. ‘This is a good area for members to get together and create a new vehicle,’ says Wade.
Survival instinct
Last year the ECA ran several regional events on the theme of surviving the recession. One who found these ‘very good and informative’ is East Midlands chairman Tim O’Connor, whose company, based in Burton on Trent, has been going for 27 years. ‘One thing that hit me was that we shouldn’t be paying
people for not doing any work,’ he says. This has meant his firm has stopped paying for lunch and tea breaks for operatives, and also imposed a cap on travel costs – ‘things we could not pass on to our clients’. The workforce of O’Connor Electrical has been
pragmatic about the inevitability of redundancies and a working week reduced from 40 to 37.5 hours. ‘We were employing 25 people; now we have 15. Turnover was £1 million but we’re half the size we were – the recession has hit us hard,’ he says.
Training
Part of the ECA roadshow was about educating registered members in the benefits and services it can offer – not least a training fund, for which every registered member can apply.
SHUTTERSTOCK
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