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It seems as though the world has been riding the current economic climate forever. One minute there鈥檚 positive data, the next it鈥檚 back to the doom and gloom. And Europe鈥檚 inability to deal with its sovereign debt crisis has clearly added greatly to the economic uncertainty. Across the building industry, construction firms, whether they鈥檙e main contractors or small subcontractors, have been doing whatever they can to survive - that鈥檚 natural. But as a small specialist subcontractor there鈥檚 something that鈥檚 worrying me, something that鈥檚 threatening the long-term well being of the industry and all specialists - and it鈥檚 not late payment, serious though that is.

I fear that the specialist knowledge base and skills are in danger of disappearing, or at least being put in dangerously short supply in the future. Why? Because we鈥檙e increasingly seeing main contractors taking more specialist services in-house rather than using specialist subcontractors. Clearly this move towards vertical integration is an attempt by the main contractors to save costs and I can鈥檛 blame them. However, if the trend continues it could end up harming the entire industry.

On 9 November 2011, the London Evening Standard featured the story of some 1,500 union-led electricians and construction workers who staged a noisy protest in London over pay and the deskilling of the industry. The protesting 鈥渃onstruction workers are angry about the policies of a group of construction firms,鈥� it ran, 鈥渨hich, they say, are driving down pay and deskilling workers in the industry. This makes their action the nearest we鈥檝e come in all the protests to a traditional union-led action鈥�.

So what was behind the protest? First, over half of construction apprentices are employed by SMEs. They learn their trade within a firm that鈥檚 an expert in a particular specialist field, (in our case it鈥檚 stone masonry in new build and restoration). The environment in which these apprentices learn their trade is knowledge-based, so the apprentices logically become real specialists too. However, if specialist skills are only provided by main contractors rather than specialist subcontractors, I believe we鈥檒l find that the main contractors won鈥檛 have the capacity to handle or train a true specialist work force, in the medium to longer term.

锘縄f specialist services are all taken in-house, in the longer term there won鈥檛 be the same level of experience and skill that has been built up over the years by specialist subcontractors

For instance, it is unlikely that, in the long run, main contractors will be able to possess and maintain diverse specialist knowledge and skills at a high level that will meet client needs. And it is doubtful that they鈥檒l be able to train apprentices with the same personal approach a specialist subcontractor can. So if specialist services are all taken in-house, in the longer term there won鈥檛 be the same level of experience and skill that has been built up over the years by specialist subcontractors.

In a quiet market it is certainly possible for a main contractor to recruit senior in-house specialists who鈥檒l deliver jobs to a high standard. But the knock-on effect of this is that when the market comes back, as it will, there won鈥檛 be an adequate supply chain because too many specialist subcontractors will have gone out of business and their knowledge base dispersed, either to other companies or, worse still, lost to the industry forever. And there won鈥檛 be a skilled workforce because the juniors that the specialists used to train won鈥檛 be there either. This will drive up prices for the delivery of specialist services and could even slow down a full recovery for the industry.

If we don鈥檛 invest in specialist skills there鈥檒l eventually be problems for us all. Specialist skills are invaluable in delivering high-quality projects. We are in uncertain times, but more forward thinking is required to safeguard the industry and fend off future problems that are, to many, foreseeable and avoidable. Work has traditionally been outsourced to specialist subcontractors because we have a proven track record, the knowledge base, established supply chain and the skills.

Richard Piggott is business development manager at Szerelmey