Well, in some respects we have had better years haven’t we? Especially now that the days are shorter, if we’re not careful, we will find it very easy to settle into a dark winter of gloom and continued recession. The FMB’s latest state of the trade survey found that half of small to medium sized building companies noticed falling workloads during the last three months, and just over a third of the survey respondents expected workloads to continue to decline over the next quarter. It seems likely that recovery will be long and slow mainly because of the knock-on effects of high unemployment and curbs on public spending.
The survey suggested that specialist builders were fairing a little better than general builders at the moment, so unsurprisingly, specialist builders were more optimistic regarding employment over the next three months. 19 percent expected higher staffing levels compared to just 16 percent of general builders.
One FMB member company has survived more recessions than you can shake a stick at though - Sykes & Son Limited in London, whose history spans an incredible four centuries. The company has just celebrated 250 years in business, having traded from Essex Street, London WC2 continuously since 1759. Read about their fascinating history in the February 2010 issue of Master Builder.
In this issue we have three stories of successful FMB member firms and a special mention is deserved here for Mr George Butter, whose firm has just celebrated 60 years as an FMB member. You may know that the FMB was founded in 1941, so Mr Butter’s company could be the only firm to have so many years continued membership – unless you know better of course…
On an equally upbeat note, the Master Builder production team would like to wish every FMB member a very Happy Christmas, followed by a prosperous and healthy 2010. Personally, I’d like to thank all the individual FMB members who have contributed to Master Builder magazine during the past year, without your support, my job would be much more difficult and much less fun!
Thank you.
