Latest / Best of Business / Julien Leys: Building Industry Federation chief executive on the downturn impacting the construction sector

Transcript

Julien Leys: Building Industry Federation chief executive on the downturn impacting the construction sector · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Healler do for see.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Allen nearly one third of all business liquidations and construction
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: companies at the moment. Now, that's up from twenty twenty
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: two when the number was just one quarter. This is
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: according to a new report from the Building re Research
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Association out today. Julian Laizer is the chief executive of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the Building Industry Federation. Hey Julian, Hey, Heather, what's going wrong?
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's tough and this this is a reflection of
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: how hard the last couple of months has been. But
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: on the plus side, I think things are leveling out.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: So you know, we still have a good number of
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: building consents sitting around thirty three thirty four thousand. We
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: still are seeing active work worth construction and subtrades. But
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: the insolvency pressure, you know, is there, and the key
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: challenges always is getting paid on time because it's all
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: about cash flow.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: How much of this has got to do with the
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: fact that in some cases building companies are poorly run
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: tech that they're quoting far too low just to win
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the job in the first place.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Well, look, that is certainly part of it, and we
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: shouldn't forget. You know, there's three hundred thousand people that
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: work in the building and construction sector, thousands of businesses,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: many of them small, not all of them, you know,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: have the skills to manage cash flow and to have
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: cash cash reserves, and so you know, those companies are
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: some of the ones I suspect that are getting into trouble.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: So yeah, financial management is definitely, you know, a key
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: part of this.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Julian.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: You think we've reached the bottom, Is it upwards from here?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: I would think so, because from what we're seeing with
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: sales going through the merchants, through the manufacturers, things are
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: concrete and steel they are saying to pick up, which
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: means that there is activity there. I think people are
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: now getting a bit bolder in terms of making decisions
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: to crack on with projects, and we must we shouldn't forget.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Rather that that takes time, you know, from the time
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: of decisions made. So I think come spring, you know,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: once we get through winter, which is always slow anyway,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: we'll start to see a bit more activity.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Good and please to hear it, Julian, Thanks so much. Julian, Lais,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: chief executive, Building Industry Federation.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: For more from US Talks ed B, listen live on
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio