Table of Contents
Construction has always been one of those industries that seem to survive anything that is thrown at it, individual businesses and partnerships though, not exactly the same story. Unless they were in some way prepared for long periods of downtime, either mentally, or financially then unfortunately they were probably one many that had to call it a day, cut their losses, and close the doors;
Unfortunate casualties
For some businesses they may have been able to file for bankruptcy and, perhaps start another, a new company that is better prepared for whatever lies ahead. If they were a reputable company before all this kicked off and were able to come to payment terms with creditors then they should have been able to rekindle relationships that may have otherwise been lost.
Some won’t have been so lucky and, through no fault of their own, perhaps they weren’t armed with the correct advice. Somewhere down the line, they may have lost their business due to a lack of income, followed by their home, and possibly their car, including any other valuables that could help to clear off any outstanding debts. It’s a sad sight to see that, all across the country, there are abandoned construction sites, some hadn’t even reached the ‘golden brick’ stage, likely, ordered to drop tools and clear the area at their earliest convenience.
It’s all about vision
As with most unexpected financial hurdles, the smaller businesses will have been the worst affected, the multinationals will have had to make some cutbacks here and there, but shrewd as they are it won’t have affected them in the same way. The future of construction sits with companies that were able to see things in a different way, such as The Frameless Glass Company, or perhaps had the financial backing to allow them a little more breathing space to figure out a solution.
More buy to let and conversions
For a builder, conversions are great news. They don’t have to start right at the beginning, they can use an already pre-constructed home, or property and then divide it into various separate living spaces. There shouldn’t be much groundwork to do and, on top of that, self-contained flats and, or bedsits have quite literally saved some people from having to live on the streets. Granted, there is a financial motive in it for the builders but, that’s what they are in business for. The very best of companies will have also done the job with care rather than just seeing the job as a ‘task’, they will have shown compassion for the individuals involved and even given them a helping hand along the way where possible.
For the builders, it’s reasonably straightforward work, assuming that there aren’t any planning constraints, partitions and the diversion/separation of things like water and gas lines will have the next challenge, after that, it should all be plain sailing. The beauty of things like house or property conversions is that there is a bigger chance for the owner to increase their current income-based upon being able to charge a larger ‘total’ amount of money based on the number of living spaces they are able to create with the builders help of course.
Driving the economy forwards
There are a number of advantages for people who are either financially well off, or already have a property that they are willing to convert, for the wealthy, it means that the buy to let market has opened up again because there will be more empty homes, turn one into 2 and they make more money which will, in turn, get pumped back into the economy.
For the builders, it’s also great news because what usually happens after people have taken a knock backward? They usually end up coming back fighting stronger than they did before and, when they are ready to buy another home or look at having one built, who do you think they will turn to? It probably won’t be one of the massive multinationals, they’re more likely to turn to the modest builder who helped them and showed some compassion, respect, and understanding. People tend to remember those who helped them in their time of need, it’s one of those things that makes a lasting impression.
