http://ow.ly/d/2EK6 – Have gotten some great feedback on this awesome radio spot! Adam at Cosmic knocked this out of the park.
Government is proposing tax breaks for “struggling construction firms”.
However, as the article admits in the third sentence, this really isn’t meant to help construction firms, rather developers, and specifically hotel developers.
Because if a developer knows that a builder is able to secure a payroll tax break on their project, they will fully expect that savings to pass up the chain to the developer. So the “struggling construction firm” really benefits very little from this.
Given the volume of work and the number of firms still out there, there remains almost NO profitability in the industry at the moment. This move by Government doesn’t help that. Not that I am arguing they should intervene significantly. The free market still has work to do.
What this does is provide an increment of incentive to potential overseas hotel developers. As I have said before, making a major new Bermuda hotel development financially feasible verges on the impossible. If Government can increase the likelihood of financial feasibility by offering concessions, I am definitely in support. They aren’t getting taxes on the Club Med site now, so they have nothing to lose.
But my point here is that this move will not help “struggling construction firms”, nor was it designed to. At least not directly.
Following up on our last post, Government’s new National Training Plan has some depth and organization to it, but unfortunately not much is new. Not that there necessarily needs to be any wheels reinvented. The schemes set out in the National Training Board’s various acts and regulations over the last decade are more than capable of giving trades training a shot in the arm, and the “Plan” seems to recognize that and utilizes them.
And thankfully, the plan recognizes that National Certification is the foundation. Something I wholeheartedly agree with.
Unfortunately, we have heard before that additional trades will be certified before. No additional trades have been established as ‘designated trades’ since the previous Government did so for Electricians back in 2010.
Waiting and watching.
Not unexpectedly, Gov’t has come out with a “National Training Plan”. Opinion to follow after absorbing its 52 pgs. http://ow.ly/wVZC3
I just sent this email around to everyone on my construction network contact list, figured it wouldn’t hurt to add it here too…
Good day,
Yes, you read the subject line right, please send us your layoffs.
If you are in the unfortunate position of having to lay off any of your decent employees, please give them one of the attached forms or send them to our website at www.workforcebermuda.com. Please forward this on to your HR departments as well.
Workforce Ltd. has been successful in placing tradesmen of all flavours into temporary roles with a variety of companies, and we are always on the lookout for talent. Masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, welders, machine operators, truckers; all trades.
If you find yourself in immediate need of someone; perhaps you have a deadline to hit or have recently started a new project that needs additional resources, please give us a call. We have reference and skill checked hundreds of different tradespeople and have individuals ready to jump in at a moments notice. Our rates are extremely competitive and you don’t have to make the commitment of a permanent hire.
We can help you hit your deadlines while remaining lean.
Sincerely,
Alex M. DeCouto
President
Workforce Ltd.
It has been a frantic month in my world, with candidates starting to pile through the doors with increasing frequency following the RG story and word-of-mouth building momentum.
I’ve been making hiring decisions for some time in my roles with other businesses, so nothing has really surprised me. Still, if I could make a sweeping statement, people in the trades generally do an extremely poor job selling themselves. Only half of applicants actually have a resume, a likely unfortunate outcome of a lack of access or computer skills. Almost none of them give a complete work history. What they do provide does a poor job highlighting what skills they actually have. Most of the time I have to conduct interviews right on the spot, poking and probing to figure out just what they have done in the past, what their core skills are, and what kind of role they hope to secure.
Of course, most will say “I’ll do anything!”.
This is perhaps indicative of the desperation people feel when they are unemployed, but it is the last thing I or a potential employer wants to hear.
What we want to hear is “I do (X) extremely well”.
Followed quickly by “and (reference) will attest to that”.
However, references have tended to be pretty lame. I can’t believe how many people put their MP down! Or Suzy home-maker. Or their pastor. The kind of reference I need is one that REALLY knows what a skilled tradesman should be able to do, frequently a construction supervisor or business owner. Rarely have I gotten this.
However, again drawing from my experience, I know that there are sometimes diamonds in those roughs. Many of my best employees originally walked through the door unsolicited, without a resume, and did a poor job selling themselves. But the timing was right and they got an opportunity, and I ended up with a great employee.
So I have been honing my skills; learning to ask the right questions, uncover a candidates core attributes, and pair her/him with the right employer. Candidates need to be doing something they love to do, and do well, in order to ultimately be successful.
Are you a diamond?
After someone spilled a glass of water in my living room last night, an old magazine got unearthed like a time capsule from the mounds under my coffee table. It was “UMUM” from 2002, a local magazine published by Walton Brown that had a short life. It was kept under the coffee table because, thinking back, it may have been my first publication as a writer on construction issues.
At the time I was just back from college and full of ideas and ego. I’m not even quite sure of the circumstances that led to me writing the article and definitely don’t recall why I would be given such a platform at the time.
It was an attempt to predict “The future of construction in Bermuda”. Unsurprisingly I didn’t see the calamity of the 2008 crash coning but I wasn’t completely inaccurate. Judge for yourself…
A Look Into the Future of Construction in Bermuda and What’s in Store for Bob the Builder
Sorry to disappoint but I’m not going to peer into a crystal ball and tell you that soon we’ll be using recycled rubber tires to build skyscrapers on Front Street. Predicting the future isn’t the bizarre exercise it once was. There’s no need for gypsies or tarot cards, just sound logic and lateral thinking. You basically need to learn from the past, but try to avoid driving through the rear view mirror. In other words, it’s easy to spot a straight-line trend but much more difficult to predict a future curve. You also need to know your facts and demographics, and think outside the box. Despite the simplicity of the formula, rarely has the future been accurately forecasted. Until now that is!
The Facts
To truly comprehend how Bermuda operates, every one of us needs to understand one indisputable fact. Bermuda is 100% dependant on foreign currency being brought to the island. It does not matter what your occupation is or how far removed you are from the “big two” of local industry. The Bermudian dollar is not an international currency and without foreign mullah we wouldn’t be able to import Volkswagens, sliding glass doors, orange juice and sweaters. Currently, we are blessed with two significant sources of foreign money, and I don’t need to tell you what they are. Or maybe I do, because sometimes we don’t see the bigger picture. If you take a step back, you can see one of those straight-line trends I was talking about. Our “Original Economy” – tourism, directly or indirectly supported and continues to support everyone from chambermaids, to taxi drivers, waiters and tour operators, vegetable farmers and retailers. Prior to the arrival of the Ace’s and XL’s, we had some lawyers and accountants but nothing relative to today’s numbers. As we have become a more sophisticated society, the younger generation of Bermudians has not been content with the occupations of their forefathers. International business keeps the “New Economy” Bermudians, the accountants, and computer cabling technicians, financial analysts and bank clerks, lawyers and actuaries busy. One thing is certain however: that our society as a whole is equally dependent on each of these “pillars”. And, as one of the biggest direct beneficiaries of the frequent capital expenditure in both tourism and international business, the construction industry has generally been a happy camper.
After ten years of being very happy indeed, the construction industry is also fat. Fat with too many companies and too much work. The only yellow-pages category with more listings than “Construction Companies/Contractors” is “Churches”, which is not surprising. Lots of companies equates to lots of projects. With so many projects happening at the same time, builders are paying a huge premium to keep good workers and those costs are passed on directly to the consumer. Demand is so high for skilled and semi-skilled labor that we have had to import workers to keep up. And imported labor is NOT cheap. What has caused this? While a number of factors over several years have contributed, a few stand out. Government expenditure on large capital projects has not subsided since Casemates was renamed Westgate. International business has literally been bringing money here by the truckload and been using it as aggregate in the concrete they are so desperate to get these office buildings up. If you think back, Bermuda hasn’t been without a mega-project (+$50 Million) for nearly a decade!
The Future
What will happen the day we finally get a break (a date which is still off in the distance)? The fat will be trimmed. Be prepared all you Bob the Builder’s out there. When the mega-projects run dry, even if temporarily, the Big builders will be competing with the Not-so-Big builders for the same work. Companies will fall and people will be out of work. It will be a necessary purge. Unemployment will grow but costs will come down as builders compete for the leftovers. Bad but good.
As the buildings rise on Pitts Bay Road and Berkley Hill, so too do the costs of homebuilding for the average Joe. To keep builders out of the commercial market, homeowners are paying out of the nose to keep up with their housing requirements. And it doesn’t matter what type of house you’re building. As any real estate agent will tell you, the listings that sell the quickest are the cheap ones, in the three to five hundred thousand dollar range (available only to Bermudians). Half a million dollars for a two or three-bedroom condo or house is considered cheap in today’s market! The Gilbert Lopes’ and Sans Pearman’s out there (‘developers’ in the true sense of the word, who buy the land, design the building, construct it and sell or rent it) have been capitalizing on this trend by scouring the island for every available plot of land on which they can squeeze in as much cookie-cutter condo construction as is geometrically possible. And they can’t build fast enough. With prices that high you’ll need fifty thousand dollars lying around to secure your “piece of the rock” but for those of us just starting out, even a little starter home seems like a pipe dream. To make matters worse, space is running out and demand is higher than ever. So how will this generation of young Bermudians meet their housing needs?
Cue Sir John Swan and his Ocean Winds Apartments. This will not be his most speculative venture ever (May I take your order?), but risky nonetheless. Sir John is definitely a visionary and he is no doubt banking on this new wave of city dwellers that everyone is predicting. After all, a majority of the New Economy Bermudians has more than likely spent some part of their young adulthood in a metropolitan area, probably gaining that B.A. or B.Sc. With this big investment gamble that Sir John is making, he’s calling on Hamilton to become more vibrant, more alive, so that more people will be attracted to city life. The new City of Hamilton plan is reportedly just what the doctor ordered. But one must be cautious. Just because residential use in your East Hamilton development is now “encouraged” does not mean we should rename it SoHo just yet. Last time I checked this was still a free-market economy. Government cannot force developers to build apartment buildings, restaurants, and cafes. Nor can they change the fact that office space is currently nearly twice as lucrative as residential space from a developer’s perspective. Changes like this have to be market driven. Right now, the market wants to build 6-storey office blocks in town and two bedroom condos in the “central parishes”.
But here’s where I stick my neck out slightly and predict another “curve”. Currently in the planning stages are a number of office developments, which is an indication that rampant large-scale commercial construction still has a few years left in it. While office development will be strong into 2005, sooner or later the international business flood will peter off into a manageable, Flatt’s Inlet-type current. This, combined with a housing market that is quickly approaching the boiling point, will make high-density residential development appear very lucrative. This will stimulate entrepreneurs like Sir John to build more residential developments, and those people that can’t afford a ½ acre in Pokiok will have to settle on a 4th floor apartment with a balcony, a roof top swimming pool and an underground car park (Ocean Winds actually doesn’t have individual assessment numbers. In other words: no cars. I think that’s too big of a leap for most Bermudians to make at this time). Hopefully, this will have a knock on effect and eventually make opening for business at night in the city more attractive. This will take some time though. But in the next ten years, Bob the Big Builder will be busy with high-end office construction, new apartment buildings and eventually new retail and restaurant establishments. And most likely in that order.
While Hamilton is poised for transformation, it will not be the only place to see some action. For about 6 years now, two different governments have been sitting on a gold mine of toxic sludge and sewer waste in the form of Morgan’s Point. Can they possibly fiddle about ANY longer? There are rumors that they may decide to lock the gates and keep it as a land bank for future generations. A noble idea, but something has to be done about the aforementioned waste before Great Sound becomes a mini Chernobyl. Besides, if they do that, the land will be slowly whittled away as the housing market screams for mercy and we’ll end up with a poorly planned frenzy of big houses, little houses, narrow streets and a lack of public recreational facilities, not un-like most of Bermuda. Next big prediction? Government will pull the finger out and award the development of Morgan’s Point to local boys BEAM Ltd. and progress will be made with their ambitious plans for a new golf course, hotel, marina, community recreation and residential development. I know what you’re all thinking – do we need another golf course? The answer is yes! Ask any golfer on the island how hard it is to get a tee time nowadays. This goes back to the heart of our dependence on foreign dollars. Sorry go-carters, but a racetrack will not bring in the greenbacks like a championship golf course will. If we build it, they will come. And make no mistake we need them to come. This should get the tourism ball rolling, and also draw some attention to the West End Consortium’s plans for a “Total Island Resort”. Even though the message went over most of the attendees’ head’s at a recent press conference, cooperation and a single vision is what they are preaching and this will hopefully breathe new life into our bland tourism product. A healthy tourism industry is one that is upgrading and renovating, so Bob the Not-so-Big Builder, keep one eye on this at all times. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities for independent developers in BEAM’s scheme and its’ projected to last 10-12 years.
One of my best friends recently asked me of my choice of professions, “Do you REALLY see a future in construction on this tiny, over-developed island?” The future needs of a healthy economy will ensure that construction will always be active. While I was very tempted to try to woo him with the latest catch phrase, Sustainable Development, it is a concept that is hardly relevant to an island that has been over-developed for a while now. The U.N.’s definition of sustainable development (“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”) was meant to have global connotations and does not compute in the complex equation that is Bermuda. And don’t let any politician tell you otherwise. Sound planning and forward thinking is certainly prudent however, and open spaces should be conserved wherever possible. But the fact that the Bermudiana Hotel site had been developed years prior did not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their development needs. In fact, we may be spawning a new phenomenon: Recycle-able Development.
So, is there a future for construction? I’m positively bullish on Bermuda and I feel that as long as foreign dollars keep coming here, as long as tourists visit and people think this is a nice place to live, Bob the Builder will survive and prosper. Buildings will be renovated and property will be redeveloped to meet our future needs. Construction is the second oldest occupation in history and it won’t die anytime soon.
By Alex DeCouto
Workforce has done a half decent job (if I do say so myself) of looking for job seekers in construction online. We have good traffic on this blog, a bunch of followers on Twitter and over 100 likes on Facebook. Our website is admittedly not yet on the first page of a Google “Bermuda construction jobs” search but that may take some time. We’ve even had a nice write up in the Bermuda Sun.
It has now been two weeks since we have posted on the Bermuda Job Board which I thought would be a primary source of candidates given that it is operated by the Department of Labour and is about to become a de facto requirement for anyone seeking a work permit. We have had only three responses. The department is supposed to assist job seekers to use the Board as well.
I was initially dismissive of the notion that construction people don’t frequent the internet because we are troglodytes and all that. Given the penetration of home and mobile internet on the island, I thought for sure most people, particularly those looking for work, would be online.
Either they are not online, or, there are not that many people looking for work.
Both answers have me scratching my head.
We will be biting the bullet and doing a color ad in the daily sometime soon which may put this issue to bed.
Couldn’t help but notice the front page article in yesterday’s RG.
I would describe it as a common and widespread misconception that work permits have ever been tied to training, except in cases where the Immigration Board has exercised fairly subjective powers by asking firms to demonstrate training initiatives vis a vis specific work permit applications.
Sounds like this might be changing, to become a more formal policy objective.
Training and more specifically “apprenticeships” in the construction industry are fairly well regulated already under the National Training Board and the several Acts associated with that body. Registering an Apprentice with the NTB mean undertaking a formal contract between the employee, the employer and the Government, with all the parties having certain rights and responsibilities to see the apprentice through formal training.
As an aside, I have always argued that this was putting the cart before the horse. Certification (i.e. being able to say “I am a certified Mason”) should be in place first and foremost. Regulations should describe what a “mason” should be able to do, training programs should be designed to meet those competencies, and then formal apprenticeships can be created to meet the end goal of certification. Currently, anyone can call themselves a ‘mason’. Why bother going through formal training? At the height of the construction boom in 2008 there were over 500 masons here on work permits. Number of mason apprentices in training at that time? Four. All of this has been in the pipeline for many years but really now is the time. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best time is now.
We would love to take credit for being a visionary with our “Apprenticeship Management” service that Workforce is offering (in light of the Ministry’s new position), but it’s really just dumb luck. We thought it would be handy. Now it might be very handy.
The process of entering into formal contracts with apprentices, then making sure they attend the training, and then making sure they get exposed to the right work experience at the right time, can be virtually impossible for the small to medium business owner to do effectively. And even if they could, generally their time is better spent generating revenue. Workforce is willing to do all that for you for the value of the payroll tax rebate currently being offered to registered apprentices.
No brainer if you ask me! 🙂
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| Larry Burchall on Where are all the construction… |
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| workforcebda on Blast from the past |
| Larry Burchall on Blast from the past |
| Kerry Judd on Where are all the construction… |
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