by Ben Wakeling
It is fair to say that the housebuilding industry has experienced a turbulent few years.
It’s difficult to know where to begin. There was the supply chain, for example, which crumbled dramatically, with materials which were once plentiful now suddenly in short supply. Only now are we beginning to see lead times get back on track.
Brexit drove experienced and skilled overseas workers back to their home countries, and worsened an already struggling labour force.
Then, of course, there was Covid; and, whilst it unexpectedly led to a housing boom, the sudden growth in demand drove material and labour prices through the roof. Contractors and suppliers fixed their tenders for as little as a day in some cases. Developers struggled to forecast margins, and contractors struggled to make ends meet.
Meanwhile, the broken planning system continued to splinter under the weight of demand, with a catalogue of ambitious government promises to mend this fractured system all fizzling into nothing.
Cladding remediation quite rightly stole the headlines, as the industry was forced to face its own tragic failings and commit to being better in the future.
Now we find ourselves in an economic downturn; long overdue and shallower than expected, but triggered by a mini-Budget which took the legs out from under the housing sector almost overnight. Ghosts of the global financial crisis of 2008 are evident in developer trading updates: redundancies are being made, sites are slowing down, land is no longer the priority.
And, finally, all of this is against a backdrop of a significant gender inequality issue which could take decades to rectify, a housing crisis in the worst state it has ever been, and an industry struggling with an image problem which drives young people into following alternative career choices.
Construction is one of the few careers where you actually have something to show for your hard work, something tangible, that you can see and touch.
It is easy, then, to get bogged down in the fog of negativity and lose sight of why construction is one of the most fulfilling and dynamic industries to build a career in.
Aside from often paying well – a shortage of skilled people, whether on site or in the office, does have its advantages – the scope for progression is considerable.
So many different skills go into building a home that someone following a career in the sector can hop from one discipline to another, from commercial to technical to sales and beyond, working their way up the ladder and gaining a wide range of experience. It’s no coincidence that a huge majority of housebuilding chief executives have their roots in the construction industry.
It is an industry which continually reinvents itself, evolving to meet changing buyer needs and growing technologies. Only a few decades ago, for example, layouts were drawn by hand over several days; nowadays there are models like BIM which can map out an entire apartment block in a matter of hours.
No two sites are ever the same; each has its own challenges, its own constraints, its own obstacles which are uncovered along the way, but which are worked through and overcome together by a talented project team. And, as a result of being a dynamic and inventive sector, the housing industry continually finds itself at the forefront of innovation, actively finding ways to be greener, more sustainable, and in doing so often leaves other industries in its wake.
These are all great reasons to be in the industry. But, for me, they pale when compared to one thing: pride.
There is no industry like construction for immeasurable job satisfaction. Yes, it might not be as glamorous as some career paths; you may have to work outside in the cold at times, and get your hands dirty. But construction is one of the few careers where you actually have something to show for your hard work, something tangible, that you can see and touch. It’s not words on a screen, or a TikTok video gathering likes. It’s being part of a dedicated team of talented people coming together to bring lines on a drawing to life and build a legacy which will outlast them for decades.
It’s building a house for someone who has dreamed of holding the keys to their first home for years. It’s breathing life into placemaking, a buzzword which is thrown about often but only ever truly experienced when you walk through a development which you played a small part in creating.
There is no industry like construction for immeasurable job satisfaction.
It’s working in city centres building towers which change the skyline and become icons in their own right. It’s transforming ugly patches of brownfield land into a community, building beautiful homes in which couples will grow into families, families will grow old, boxes in which memories are held for generations.
It’s building connections and friendships with people which last a lifetime, and passing by a development which you were a part of a year, ten years, twenty years ago, and being able to say: ‘I built that’.
So yes, the housing sector has its challenges, and it is right that we tackle them head-on. But let’s ensure that, in doing so, we do not lose sight of what makes our industry so rewarding.
Housing View 