The Building Industry
A note to the government

What follows is a copy of a letter sent to the relevant departments with respect to problems I have encountered within the building industry. If anyone out there has similar experiences to me please drop me a line and let me know. I am writing to Inform you of my complete dissatisfaction with state of the building industry. In April this year , to my utter disbelief , I was informed that from 5th April the tax paid by subcontractors , at source , before any accounts have been taken into consideration was to RISE from 18% to 20% !! The Ironic thing about this is that I was looking forward to the day when this disgusting policy was finally scrapped ! I am a fully qualified carpenter . I have ten years experience and Numerous qualifications relating to the building industry.

I have also been privileged to work from start to finish on a new roman catholic church as well as many other prestigious construction projects (please see the attached newspaper clips) In spite of this my earnings are disappointingly low along with other trades men of my own trade and others. Furthermore as of this year I will be another 2% worse off than I was last year ! Due to the ever increasing burden of the insane initiatives in health and safety , my trade has experienced a pittifull increase in wages for the entire time that I have been a carpenter. I.E ten years ! As each year passes I see other professions get pay rises both on merit and to keep up with inflation. This has not been the case for us carpenters as building companies seek to offset the insane costs of meeting current health and safety legislation and new P.A.Y.E rules by not paying the workers their dues ,. Last year I.E April 06 / April 07 It became Essential for me to purchase a new van (second hand of course but new to me ) as my rising cost of maintenance and fuel charges are a complete drain on me. I do not have the money available to achieve this vital business expense , after living costs .

Meanwhile I am waiting for my accountant to complete my books so that I can get the Yearly rebate of the moneys you have taken from me back. However the cost of living the year without 20% of my self employed income is higher than if I was not deducted it because I am forced to borrow against the money owed which in turn incurs interest and administration charges . Similarly I then have to pay the accountant for working out exactly how much that is in the first place ! But here's the punch line ……. Because I didn't get a van last year , because Inland Revenue had 18% of my turnover , my earnings show that I have earned more money because I couldn't spend what I have actually earned and yet haven't got access to because Inland Revenue have it…..clever move guys!!!!!!

So I will incur a tax amount based on the fact that Inland Revenue prevented me from investing in a necessary business expense.

As far as training is concerned , again , I am totally dissatisfied with the training that I have been , or rather , not been given.
My first experience of building trade training involved the basic skills course at the college . Due to under staffing , I was held back at least 3 months .Most of this time was spent waiting for the tutors to get round to me.
This infuriating waste of my precious time led me to enrol with a training agency as recommended by C.I.T.B. for an on site N.V.Q. assessment. This was done upon advisement from Investors in people during the training identification stage of the commitment criteria for which I received grants e.t.c. to go on certain courses . One such course was the I.S.L.M. construction 13 day S.M.S.T.S. course which included a 5 day top level health and safety course. I was told that the 5 day Health and safety course was one of the highest courses available in health and safety and not only would I be a member of the institute for supervisory and line management at the end of this course , but I would also qualify , via an extensive written exam , for the contracts manager level , black health and safety card and therefore be covered right through all the N.V.Q. levels with this card. Because of this sale pitch I agreed to take the course and indeed all the other advice given to me by C.I.T.B. and Investors in people to make my newly formed carpentry company an example to all. Having worked in management , in the retail sector for 15 years prior to joining the construction industry , I have few problems completing paperwork or understanding legal documents of any kind . Also my extensive further education and legal experiences based on top grades achieved by hard work and dedication , shows that I embrace studying and homework and completion of portfolios etc. It is only because of this that I have been able to navigate my way through literally hundreds of clueless and incompetent staff within the numerous official bodies that claim to be working on behalf of the building industry .
It has become quite clear to me that in the main , we could do a better job and get paid more money if these hangers on just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Basically , If tomorrow , every architect , health and safety expert , C.I.T.B advisor and member of management in construction per se , were to quit their jobs ….. Us builders would be able to continue building , using our skills and initiative , and basic will to live ,whilst making enough money to work calmly and safely , ensuring our bills were paid and our health maintained …

What would happen if the opposite was to occur ?

Two hundred tool box talks , fifty emergency meetings , five hundred flowcharts and a thousand sheets of a4 later they(management) would be no further forward , and civil war would break out between the various desk dwelling tribes over whose fault it was , and who had stolen the Blu Tac!

Meanwhile , not one building would even be started.
That's how useful and needed They really are !

Of course they will try to justify their existence with this statistic and that piece of paper ., but ultimately , just another avalanche of ill advised documentation will be issued, that in turn will completely bind the hands of those of us who are capable of making independent decisions . And therefore oppress the development and continuation of thousands of years of experience and time served knowledge within the building trade.(see Gizza plateau , Stone henge and Indus valley civilisation , amongst others )

They cannot legislate common sense and they cannot forsee every eventuality , so please stop trying . Let us builders get on and leave us alone to get on with our job , for which , time and time again , management and safety "experts" within the building industry show a complete lack of knowledge !!!

Now , back to the training …..
Having enrolled through C.I.T.B , I was visited on site by a Mr X(witheld due to privacy) . An "Interesting" man who was sent to see me to guide me through my portfolio of evidence. And make assessments E.T.C
Over the space of approx 6 months I diligently collated all required information , and answered all the questions as required , and completed my portfolio . Please bear in mind that at this time I was a director of my own carpentry and joinery company , and was working on site , on the tools and managing others and I was also , Personally training an apprentice , again , through C.I.T.B.! Mr X again came to site and checked my portfolio whereupon , he took all of my documentation away for final assessment , telling me that all was in order and that my black card would cover the requirements for the health and safety test .
That was the last time I saw Mr X
It was the last time I saw my portfolio of evidence and literally hundreds of photographs and signatures.
Over the next couple of months my wife , who was also company secretary, and I telephoned regularly, both the Training agency and C.I.T.B to check on the progress of my N.V.Q. At each and every time we were told that we should just wait and be patient and that everything was going through just fine and that there were no problems and that my certificate was on the way in the post and should be arriving shortly. A couple of months turned into six months . Our will would not be broken. We continued to diligently chase up the absent certificate . But each and every time the same answer. Six months turned into a year.

Having tried every friendly and yet insistent way possible to get some information on my certificate I finally had had enough of being nice .

I was behind schedule on my Investors in people training plan and I could go no further forward until I had that certificate In my hand. I should have , by this time , achieved N.V.Q lev 3 .

I complained , and complained again , and spoke to this extension and that extension , this department , that manager .
Finally we were told the truth. Practically the same day that Mr X had taken my N.V.Q portfolio away to be assessed , he had gone on extended leave through sickness and apparently was at some point dismissed from his position within the company he worked for and that my portfolio had never been handed in ……. or had been lost shortly after…..no one was quite sure either way. However the best advice they could give me was to do it all again through another assessment company !
It was now some eighteen months since I had given Mr X my portfolio. I was Insane with anger . Miserable with grief . Frustrated with my progress as I new I was capable of achieving better things than the glorious system would allow.
In fact as I write this I am having genuine difficulty explaining how I felt , words just aren't enough.
The level of incompetence required to keep me hanging on for eighteen months , fed with complete lies and disinformation . Allowing the trail to go impossibly cold as to where my portfolio might actually be, staggers me .
In fact I fill with rage when I think of all the wages that have been paid to these people who have completely and utterly failed to do their jobs .

Had I been that incompetent , for even one hour , in that eighteen months , I would have been frogmarched off site , never to return.

Anyway , for approximately one month , both my wife and I fought through switchboards of nodding donkeys , valiantly trying to get to speak to someone who could actually do something about this situation , towards the end of this month we would have been happy to have found someone to talk to who actually gave two hoots to my situation .
Eventually after being passed from one powerless android to another , and after a further six months of complaining , I was referred to a wonderful training advisor and assessor, who Came to my house to form a battle plan , after going through the whole miserable saga again .

Armed with a plan , I then completed all the allotted tasks and provided another rainforest worth of evidence .
He also came to my site where I was working , which happened to be the church I mentioned earlier.
Bearing in mind that I was the main carpenter at this site , I.E. I was there from start to finish , from wall plate to hanging the painting of Jesus crucifiction . My immediate bosses were surprised to find out from the training advisor that I wasn't in fact qualified as I had understandably stated at the commencement of my contract .
Although this could be explained away , the stigma of that revelation has stayed with me ever since , regardless of my capabilities. I do not blame the training advisor however , he was a slave to the rule book also . In spite of his Knowledge and experience!

Having performed all the tasks as required by my training advisor , I then anxiously awaited the certificate . I telephoned every week as before , trying to get a progress report and was again fed the same scripted lines .
Then , approx a couple of months after submitting my second N.V.Q portfolio , my wife rang me at work to tell me that the certificate had arrived . I could hardly contain my jubilation , and I couldn't wait to get home from work to actually hold this mythical certificate in my own hands .

Upon returning home from work , my celebrations were brought to an abrupt halt for as I looked at the certificate , I realised that it was not an N.V.Q at all , It was merely a certificate of completion of some of the elements relative to the N.V.Q .
In fact the only elements missing were the health and safety ones relating to the black card I already possessed . Which ordinarily would have been covered by the infantile touch screen test , but in my case , as I had been told to start with , and indeed had been told all the way through this sad campaign , my black card , being the" degree level " test equivalent , compared to the " C.S.E. level " touch screen test , would more than suffice.

Upon further investigation I.E twenty phone calls later , I found that what I had previously been told was nonsense and that regardless of my qualification in health and safety , I would have to sit the touch screen test ! ( I think in hindsight , this is more the result of desk dweller politics than common sense )

This of course meant that I had completely wasted my time doing the S.M.S.T.S. course in the first place . This course , costing thousands of pounds was in fact recommended to me by yourselves through the Investors in people program as I mentioned earlier.

By this time in the saga , I had already shut down my limited company , due to the failings of you guys as I had embarked upon a mission of training and business growth as per my business plan , but had been totally left in the dark for eighteen months as to what was going on with my training . Therefore I had no alternative but to take a downward step and work as a lone carpenter whilst all of this got sorted out , as the entire business mission statement was centered around training which I wasn't receiving !!!

Angry and tired I agreed to do the damned touch screen test , which incidentally , I completed , including the optional survey at the end , in just over 9 minutes. The unfortunate thing about this was that I had to take an afternoon off work unpaid . I ,eventually received my N.V.Q in due course .

I am now drawing breath , and trying to prepare myself spiritually for the next part of my plan the N.V.Q. level 3 .
With my life experience and work experience , I expect the course itself to be a mere formality , in theory ..……
In practice ……I shudder to think !

It is also worth mentioning at this stage that , having been through the n.v.q. system……twice… I can hand on heart say that it taught me absolutely nothing whatsoever about my job at all , and that everything I have learned has been through time served , on the tools hard work !

I must turn now to the most important subject of them all within the building industry , Health and safety.
In the last year deaths in the construction industry have risen by a staggering 25%!!!!

If I were a health and safety expert or officer currently working in the building industry , I would feel honour bound to take my own life in repayment for the lives lost as a direct result of the millions of pounds spent on exactly the wrong initiatives for preserving the lives of us hard working builders.

We builders have as much desire for life as you desk dwellers do. Furthermore , because it is us doing the work day in and day out , we have the knowledge required to assess and control our working environment and when left to our own devices your own death rates show how much safer we are without you !!

Let me give you some examples of what I'm talking about here….

1) Because it is compulsory to wear a hard hat at all times on a building site ( primarily I think because desk dwellers see this as a good idea) I am continually jarring my neck by hitting scaffolding poles over my natural head height , only because I am wearing the hat!!! If I took it off , millions of years of evolution would kick back in and tell me where the top of my head is and I would miss all but a few in my lifetime , if I had the odd cut or two as a result then I would be happier than in my current situation where I am suffering from repeated impacts to the helmet , and so damaging my vertebrae, I am in constant pain and the future most certainly does not look orange !
At present im still waiting to see a specialist through the NHS , however the chiropractor I pay privately has been able to get me back to work and moving again.
The horrors and evils of the NHS are the subject for another letter on another day, so back to my examples

2) The completely barmy concept of an inner rail on scaffolding around buildings.
What happened there ?
Did some particularly incompetant desk dweller , perhaps afraid of heights come on to site one day and whilst gingerly poking around on what would ,to this desk dweller, be alien and inhospitable territory, but to us trained and experienced time served builders is a wonderfull climbing frame perfectly suited to our purpose when erected in consultation with the person who has got to work off it.!!!
Could it have been a floury of wind that perhaps caught this clueless and naïve lemmings clip board or perhaps even more dangerous the chaps Tie fluttered in front of his face as he was walking in the open air at height , that made him think that we would require a fence erected to prevent us actually getting to where we wanted to work. I am continually exposing myself to mortal danger climbing over these monstrosities to get to where I want to be to carry out my work . Back and fourth over the damned thing , reaching for my tools the other side or a piece of wood , harnessing up then unclipping etc etc….what an insane and thoroughly dangerous way to work in the name of safety and all because some ill advised clueless interior office technician sees a danger but doesn't see the danger of his or her proposed solution . Thereby making our lives more agro and ultimately more dangerous…

What I can say in conclusion to this is, don't let this person loose in the NHS or we will be building six feet walls around operating tables, to stop the surgeon cutting himself with the scalpel .
And, I can just see , right after the unveiling ceremony, the first bewildered surgeon putting scalpel between his teeth as, he" free climbs" the wall to gain access to the patient because there has been an error in the paperwork, and he is unable to sign for the specially produced surgeon cherry picker with which from now on he has been instructed to use …but not yet fully trained….. All in the name of safety!!!!!

3) Fall bags.
Several years ago now there appeared on the scene , what we know as the fall bag .
Approx eight feet long and two feet wide , cigar shaped ,white , interconnectable and filled with some sort of foam so as to give the effect of a bean bag . To give credit where its due , these were a damned good idea . Firstly they work , secondly they are relatively easy to move about and install , and , thirdly one could traverse these quite effortlessly as they were like walking on deep sand . One often finds ones self on these things to reclaim dropped tools or materials etc or even very rarely as a result of a fall . In the last two months however , I have been introduced to the latest incarnation of this system and nearly broke my neck ! Some complete numpty of a paperwork pusher has allowed the introduction of the most dangerous piece of equipment on site ……..

The AIR FILLED fall bag .

These abominable threats to mankind look exactly like the conventional fall bag and are indistinguishable from their predecessors except for one main feature…. Instead of a soft and controllable landing obtainable from the foam filled bag , one is propelled in an equal yet unpredictable angle back to where one just came from ( if your lucky) the shock and disorientation this causes , ill prepares you for your second landing , wherever that may be. In my several encounters with these undercover space hoppers, I have found that I would rather take my chances with concrete headfirst than landing on one of them.
The most worrying thing about this development is that somebody in a powerful position of care , could not see this obvious problem. They should not look like their safe counterparts and should be clearly identifiable as a completely different system "the ride is entirely different" . furthermore , I don't even think that they should be used in most situations any way , you really need to try landing or even traversing on a spread of these things to understand what I'm talking about . Someone in a position of care should be capable of the job they are given . It is a foregone conclusion that whoever allowed this system to get past the flip chart stage had no idea of the job they were doing. The fact that they are being used on site right now stuns me . isn't it obvious how dangerous they are ? How many hse officers and management cannot see this ? Very worrying indeed.
"No one else has complained !!!!" Is the answer I am forever hearing , to any genuine query I make over anything nowadays.
The unfortunate thing is that all builders that have come into contact with these things agrees with me . So why don't the people in power know?

Does that mean therefore , its ok to go along with stuff like this ?

The building Industry Seems to have a disturbing class divide within it , centred around ones clothing.
People in suits are to be feared in person and ridiculed for their incompetence behind their backs . People in work clothes , often filthy dirty or soaking wet through from actually having built something are , im afraid , treated very disrespectfully indeed , And are automatically deemed by the besuited tribes to be lesser mortals and expendable……. I see it every day .
I wish to make it perfectly clear that I believe in the concept of a governing body that oversees and controls health and safety standards . However , I wish to see a body that is driven by a desire to work with the tradesmen and assist . Not tie everybody up in legal mumbojumbo so as to pass the buck ! The philosophical difference between these two theories has a fundamental effect on the outcome. I suspect somebody somewhere is very happy with last years mortality figures , not because of the numbers but because none of them were deemed to be their fault ! Essentially the divide between those making the rules and those implementing them within the building industry is a vast chasm. The upshot of which is that any good intent in current health and safety policies usually gets "lost in translation" . At least fifty percent of all health and safety on site is a paperwork exercise , whilst the rest is in the main a pain in the ass . Common sense is what saves lives , the problem is , the more rules there are , the less room for common sense there is , and herein lies the cause.

I originally became a carpenter because I decided that I wanted to do a creative and hands on job which I enjoyed . The skills I have learned have been through time served hard work and advice from other tradesmen . My personal safety is of paramount importance to me and as I am the main money earner , it is also important to my family that I continue to work . I feel that my safety is being compromised by ill advised beaurocracy and my pay stiffled by the drain from hangers on in the building industry who serve no useful purpose in my eyes . Furthermore , for the sole trader such as myself , the 20% tax scheme is entirely unacceptable . We are already the lowest earners in the building game , all I have to show for a weeks hard graft is bills paid and that's it ! I cant invest in my business as the money I need to invest has been taken from me at source as a tax payment against earnings that havent yet been determined or even estimated using previous years experience. I have had a tax rebate of at least £2000 every year since I started . I.E you have over deducted me every year without fail by a large amount and as I said earlier this has a huge personal cost ! Increasing that tax burden as you have done this year is just making me poorer and stopping me from running my business on a level playing field to other proffessions as my expences money I.E 20% of my self employed income is deducted from me . This is wrong and in my opinion infringes upon the entire principle of being self employed. It realy doesn't take the numerical agility of the best accountant in town to realise what is in fact going on here . To me it seems that this increase in tax has been instigated to achieve just that . After all , all us builders have been getting rebates all these years , so why put the rate up? What reason ? Who's idea ? What justification ? If we are already paying too much , then why take more if not to actually prevent us from spending it on business costs , because we need to buy food with whats left !

Surely , why not go the whole hog ? Deduct 95 percent from us and we will have to work 20 hours a day just to pay the rent . The increase in gross earnings would therefore justify you taking 95 percent because we would have had to earn £200,000 just to make ends meet , and that would of course trigger the higher tax rate Q.E.D !!!!!

Disgusting!

Money is what makes the world go round ! Health and safety can only be achieved when the workforce and the management are able to earn their money by working in a safe manner . Any other way is pointless ..
Yet I see new jobs created daily in management ,supervision and inspectors etc etc all paid for by the building industry itself , which then has to knuckle down and carry these hangers on by working as quickly as possible to make ends meet and balance the books !

Every day I see more and more people jumping on the band wagon . Health and safety consultants , inspectors , and officers . Companies and corporations , feeding off the building industry making a quick buck through paperwork and e mails , company cars and holidays , but all paid for by us , the builders , the ones with our lives on the line…………

SHAME ON YOU !

Yours unfortunately
Keith Twidale