Mon, Jun 24, 2019 7:48 AM

Research from specialist recruiter Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering into almost 6,800 permanent placed construction jobs shows salaries across the sector rose 9% in the 12 months to 30th May 2018 – despite a drop in the number of vacancies being advertised.

Average pay rose from £42,300 to £45,900 today. Pay in site management has risen 3%, with average asking salaries rising from £47,100 a year to £48,500 in the 12 months to 31st May.

Randstad’s data shows assistant site managers earning £37,600 per year with the highest-flying candidates being offered £48,500 a year in London. Site managers have seen their pay rise 3% to £50,500, up from £48,800 the previous year. Average salaries are higher in London, currently sitting at £53,400. One senior site manager, a role now typically being paid £62,900 a year, has been tempted to a new job in Welwyn Garden City on a salary of £78,000.

Owen Goodhead, managing director of Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering said: “The best senior site managers are earning close to an MP’s salary. While that’s good news for individuals, it’s potentially not such great news for the economy.

"Our research shows that construction workers from overseas are being put off coming to the UK and those that are here are thinking about moving elsewhere; we know that over a third of European construction workers who are already here have considered leaving the UK due to Brexit. This should be of huge concern to industry leaders and the government, especially in the capital where nearly one in three people working in London’s construction sector were born in the EU. The shrinking pool of EU talent is already driving up wages – that’s the power of supply and demand. This Builder Brexodus is the referendum’s inheritance.”

Maintenance engineers have seen salaries rise by 5%, from £31,800 to £33,500. And Randstad says they have seen maintenance engineers in London secure starting salaries of £47,500 over the course of the last 12 months. A similar situation is developing in project management where average pay has risen 8%, from £59,500 to £64,200. Pay for senior project managers has risen 7%, from £75,700 to £80,800.

Site engineers have seen pay rise even further. Average asking salaries have risen 19%, from £37,100 to £44,300 – with the best site engineers in the capital being paid up to £68,700.

Goodhead added: “The UK’s critical mass of talented people from around the globe is a major competitive advantage for the country. Employers across the country rely on people born outside of the UK to fill skills shortages and help grow their businesses. The most important thing to the construction industry is being able to hire, retain and train the talented people we need. That’s getting harder as the UK’s employment landscape changes in the wake of Brexit. It’s very serious given we have seen a contraction in construction business activity in May as economic and political concerns slowed commercial building activity.

"On the back of political and economic uncertainty, output is declining at its swiftest rate since September 2017. Civil engineering activity has been falling month on month for most of 2019. if the UK’s pool of European talent wasn’t shrinking so fast, the drop in demand would be nudging asking salaries down. Brexit is widening the construction skills gap.

“Given house building and infrastructure building are bright spots in the sector and are continuing to grow, the government needs to ask, who’s going to put up these new homes? Who is going to build HS2?”

Meanwhile, following the publication of the Government's consultation response to the 'Creating a responsible payment culture' call for evidence, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) calls on the public sector to lead by example in order to tackle scourge of late payment.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “The Government’s acceptance there is a serious imbalance of power between small and large companies when it comes to securing fair payment terms is a step in the right direction. FMB members are telling me that more than three quarters of their payments are late, which is clearly unacceptable.

"What is needed is a culture change in the construction industry so that late payment is no longer standard practice. Fundamentally, to rebalance market power for small to medium-sized companies (SMEs), the public sector should lead by example by breaking up contracts into smaller ‘lots’ and desist from the wholesale ‘bundling’ of contracts. This will help SMEs to act as the principle contractor.

"By introducing more competition into public sector procurement in this way, payment terms will improve as the balance of power is restored. What is encouraging is that that the consultation responses echo what we already know from FMB members, that the Small Business Commissioner isn't being marketed enough. The FMB would be willing to work with the Government to help raise the Commissioner’s profile amongst construction SMEs.”