A survey of tradespeople, installers and local contractors has highlighted the ways tradespeople are using their downtime due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The survey of 162 people found that 31 per cent were learning new skills, 31 per cent were catching up on admin and 26 per cent were using the time to update social media profiles and reviews. In addition, 19 per cent were spending the time talking on social media or forums, 14 per cent were undertaking online product training and 12 per cent were sorting out their tools and/or van.
It would also seem that those working in the sector are optimistic about the industry long-term with almost two thirds (62 per cent) believing when the industry gets back on its feet there will be an influx of projects commissioned following the current downturn in work.
The survey was carried out by Dakea’s Trade Matters, which is a bank of free-of-charge downloadable content for installers and tradespeople. Its first module contains template documents to assist with finances with additional modules, such as reputation management, uploaded regularly.
Mhairi McDougall, country manager UK and Ireland at Dakea, said: “Tradespeople are currently providing a crucial service to us all by ensuring essential services are fit for purpose and, for that, we thank them. For those who are working from home, it is encouraging to see they are working on their businesses to provide a solid footing for when the industry does recover. To support this, Dakea has a bank of content that tradespeople can access to support their business during this downtime.
“Those working in the construction industry are, and have always been, crucial to ensuring the UK economy is healthy. In fact, construction output in the UK is more than £110 billion per annum and contributes 7 per cent of GDP which proves how pivotal it is that we safeguard not only the people carrying out work on-site, but the businesses themselves.”
