A study by IronmongeryDirect has found that homeowners are still impressed with the work that is being carried out by trade professionals, despite noticing that the numbers of tradespeople available are dwindling.
According to the study, nearly 90% of the public gave praise to the high quality of service they received once they had sourced someone to complete the job. 88% said they were happy with the finished result, 9% said it was satisfactory and 3% said they were not happy with the work undertaken.
The survey of 1,000 people, who have required the services of a tradesperson over the past year, also revealed the increasing difficultly in hiring a skilled professional to carry out home renovations and repairs.
One in six people spent more than three weeks looking for someone suitable to undertake the work, and 36% said they noticed a significant shortage of skilled professionals when trying to find a person for the job.
Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “The lack of skilled tradespeople in the industry is a huge concern, especially as the public is now starting to see evidence of this. Despite there being fewer skilled tradespeople around to meet existing work requirements, it’s encouraging to see that the ones who are available are doing a good job and managing to keep up excellent standards of work, despite the pressures being put upon them.
“Having said this, we urgently need to attract more talent to the sector to ensure standards don’t slip and prevent people from having to wait for long periods of time to get a job completed. Steps must be taken to encourage more people into the industry to develop the skills needed for a sustainable future, perhaps by inspiring young people into a construction career or creating more apprenticeship opportunities.”
