ANALYSIS | Installer skills gap crisis
The KBB Fitted Interiors Apprenticeship programme
The BiKBBI is to offer installers easy and affordable access to apprentices with a ground-breaking employer package for the new KBB Fitted Interiors Appren- ticeship programme. The aim of the apprenticeship programme is to provide young people with career opportunities within the KBB installation sector and to help tackle immediate worker shortages and the longer-term skills gap challenge. The apprenticeship support package is
backed by a nationwide network of colleges and training providers that BIKBBI has audited to ensure that they have the facilities and teaching standards needed to train work-ready apprentices. These training providers have been awarded BiKBBI Centre of Excellence status in recognition of the high standards they deliver.
Recognising that most installers are small businesses having to carefully watch costs, the BiKBBI’s package means that apprentices can be taken on and have all wages and other costs covered for as little as £210 a week. • For more information go to
www.bikbbi.org.uk/apprenticeships
The apprenticeship package developed by the BiKBBI addresses:
• The recruitment of high-quality apprentices, including advertising vacancies, vetting applicants and carrying out all necessary eligibility checks; • All employment administration, including contracts and paperwork, health and safety checks, and running of the payroll for the apprentice; • All the training requirements, including placing the apprentice with an accredited training provider (BiKBBI Centre of Excellence), monitoring the apprentice’s progress and arranging for the end point assessment needed to complete the apprenticeship; • All performance management and support for the apprentice – freeing up the installation business to focus on the work itself. • The process to complete the apprenticeship, ensuring that the apprentice is ready to transition into the next phase of their career.
What the retailers say... Ciaran
Leyne, MD, Trilogy Designs, London
“Finding talented installers who will consistently deliver a service that meets our expectations has always been a challenge. Over the years, we have built a good team of fitters, working with us on a regular basis, but it can be difficult to manage through the natural peaks and troughs of the industry. “The way I see it, we need to make
kitchen installation a more attractive prospect to young people searching for a trade to build a career around. Part of this is better prices for the work they undertake, but I think the problem goes deeper than this. As most retailers rely on subcontractors to undertake
their installations, I do
believe that far too often installers don’t feel part of the team. A ‘them vs us’ mentality can easily form on both sides. This can make for an unpleasant working environment. While I have no plans to change our subcontractor model, we have made a bigger effort to involve the installers in decision making within the business.”
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Darren Taylor, MD Searle and Taylor, Winchester
“I’m lucky in the fact that I have a reliable fitting team that have worked with me closely for many years. The good news for the longevity of this relationship is that they are a father-and-son team. So, even when the father has had enough – his son will
continue, having learnt all the skills required from his father. “I do all remedial work, including repairs, myself. This is a great way to stay in contact with old clients and to sell other products that may have not been around when the kitchen was first sold, like a Quooker tap, for instance – a nice add-on. “My advice to those retailers struggling to find good installers is to try out younger, eager fitters. It’s not as if the pay isn’t good enough – on average, we are paying over £3,000 to dry fit a kitchen.”
John Pelosi, director Caldicot Kitchen and Bathroom Centre, Caldicot, Wales
“While furniture and appliance manufacturers struggle with their own supply issues, so we ourselves look at how to plug the ever-widening skills gap for good kitchen and bathroom fitters.
“While improving the training and apprenticeship opportunities for school/
college leavers is, of course welcome, and will help in the medium to long term, we face real issues of scarcity right now – further compounded by periodic bouts of self-isolation, an ongoing issue of the pandemic, and tradespeople who are faced with more demand than they can comfortably service. “An excellent source of talent right now are adjacent industries – namely the shop-fitting and exhibition stand building sectors.
“Both of these sectors require near identical skill sets from largely the same trades that we do – and, indeed, the requirements in both are often far more complex.”
Justine
Bullock, joint owner, The Tap End, Pontyclun, Wales
“We have actually been able to increase our number of recommended installers in recent months because people who were fitting for other bathroom retailers in our surrounding area pulled away from companies that were causing problems for them when issues with stock started happening. “We are now looking at starting our own installation company to run alongside our bathroom design company, so that we can have more control. We’ve heard such horror stories
from other companies that
have expanded in this way in the past, but we need to be proactive in finding the longer-term solution ourselves and if we have a particular ethos and vision for growth, we can’t expect reco- mmended installers to come on that journey with us if that isn’t their goal for their company. The only way for us to have a positive impact on the crisis and to find a solution for the ongoing fitter shortage is to take on the challenge ourselves.”
· November 2021
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