‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park -
‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
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‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
I used to request CVs and qualifications for contractors working on retrofit projects. It was like pulling teeth. Typically they’d only give you the details of their best which was ok (not great) but you would know full well this individual wasn’t carrying out every install or even having oversight of every install.
But it’s only going to get worse with the older Gen X heading towards retirement. We already have the skills drain of Brexit, with far fewer skilled people from Eastern Europe
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I used to request CVs and qualifications for contractors working on retrofit projects. It was like pulling teeth. Typically they’d only give you the details of their best which was ok (not great) but you would know full well this individual wasn’t carrying out every install or even having oversight of every install.
But it’s only going to get worse with the older Gen X heading towards retirement. We already have the skills drain of Brexit, with far fewer skilled people from Eastern Europe
But what people don’t comprehend is the scale of subcontracting in construction.
Even the big name house builders subcontract.
So everyone takes their cut along the way, while quality and expertise is shredded to the bone.
And every time the politicians think the solution is more white collar jobs providing more unread and un-acted on reports.
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But what people don’t comprehend is the scale of subcontracting in construction.
Even the big name house builders subcontract.
So everyone takes their cut along the way, while quality and expertise is shredded to the bone.
And every time the politicians think the solution is more white collar jobs providing more unread and un-acted on reports.
@JugglingWithEggs Years ago, my brother worked for a large UK builder - the one with a bloke in a helicopter in the adverts - as a joiner. He was paid by the amount of work he completed, not an hourly/daily rate. Hence, his work was rushed and obviously shoddy in order to get a decent wage at the end of the week.
To this day, I would never buy a home from that builder.
He's been a joiner on Islay for nearly 30 years now, and does a much better job thee days!
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‘In many developed economies, skilled construction jobs are strictly regulated in the same way as they are for doctors and lawyers, so that only fully qualified professionals can take on these roles. In Germany, which is widely considered to enjoy a significantly higher standard of construction than the UK carpenters, roofers, architects, bricklayers and plumbers must all be properly trained and accredited before they can practise’
The odd NVQ here and there is what we have in most trades in UK
@JugglingWithEggs And yet it's much harder to find such a tradesman here than in Germany.
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‘Britain’s construction quality crisis isn’t a mystery, but the logical outcome of political choices. It’s the result of deregulation, privatisation and allowing the primacy of cost-cutting profiteers to supplant quality control and craft. When you rob building of its dignity, you don’t get efficiency; you get mould, leaks and devastating repair bills at every rung of the social ladder.’
I see this daily in the poor quality of new build social housing…but it’s everywhere
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/uk-housing-building-standards-one-hyde-park@JugglingWithEggs If you visit the Shorpy web site and scan through some of their old glass plate building photographs, you will see how deeply sadly far we have gone from quality and beauty to profit-serving.
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