January 2017 COMMENT BMJ


BUILDERS MERCHANTS JOURNAL


Each Home Matters


When you’ve been promised something and it takes aeons to arrive, when you - times it’s a bit of an


anti-climax.


Such might have been the case   into our woeful failure to come up with anything like a comperehen- sive, successful plan to improve the  The much-delayed Review - now newly monikered as Each Home Matters - was published the Friday before Christmas, which does make you wonder whether the Govern- ment was trying to hide it because it wasn’t worth reading.


Turns out that that fear was un- founded.


The Review actually contains some pretty solid recommendations. Space precludes me from detailing all 27 of them here, but some of the bare bones are as follows: Establish a Quality Mark – for all  energy measures. Yes - assuming it has teeth, is properly policed and is used to actually raise standards, rather than as a way of installers holding the badge in order to get more business.


Develop an Information Hub and Data Warehouse - Better, more ac- cessible information for consumers


Incorporating New Builders Merchant BUILDERS MERCHANTS JOURNAL Datateam Business Media, London Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8LY


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BMJ January 2017


and the industry has to be a good thing, however, Government’s track record on this has been woeful. Develop new approaches for enagaging consumers – we have to work better at raising awareness at local and national levels, by focus- sing on the points that really speak to householders and understanding that simplicity and incentives are what work best.


CONTENTS


04 06


The Month What’s been happening in the last month.


News Extra


Have you planned for Brexit? Maybe you should.


08 People News 10


A better balance of responsibili- ties between the public and private sectors: it’s no good the government setting up a scheme if it doesn’t work for the private sector that has to adminster it


Establish a robust and joined-up industry-wide compliance and en- forcement regime process: it should be easier for all involved to under- stand what needs to be done, by whom and where to turn if it goes wrong.


An overarching standards frame- work document for the end-to-end - cy and renewable energy measures:  more comprehensible:


A new Consumer Charter and Code of Conduct - improve selling practices to consumers to reduce any suspicion of mis-selling. We just need to make sure the recommendations are acted upon now.


Fiona Russell Horne Editor-in-Chief


North & Midlands Sales: David Harman


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Movers, shakers and 10 minutes with.... Business Helpdesk


The BMF Employment experts look at the issue of how to maximise the benefits of the upcoming Apprenticeship Levy.


Comment and Opinion


Our headline and guest columnists look forward to 2017.


16 Merchant League Tables


Who did what and how much did they make compared with the others? BMJ’s annual trawl through Companies House.


18 Merchant Focus 20


BMJ talks all things Jewson and SGBD with chief executive Mark Rayfield.


Rainwater Management There’s more and more of the wet stuff coming from the sky. How is the industry managing it?


22 Roofing


Slate solves aesthetic issues and GRP lead-free market grows.


23 Transport 24


How a logistcs re-think helped one wholesaler.


BMF Industry Voice News and views from the BMF.


26 Product News 30 And Finally News, the odd slot and the crossword.


copying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior writ- ten consent of the publisher. The title Builders Merchants Journal is registered at Stationers’ Hall. Suppliers have contributed towards production costs of some photographs in this issue.


Latest developments from suppliers in stuff to sell on.


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