Skills shortage & the risks, apprenticeships and skilled labourers

- There is no doubt there is a serious skills shortage in the construction industry, basically every trade faces the same problem from my experience. There are so many trades working on the barebones of labour and consequently under the demands of modern construction schedules tradespeople are majorly rushed into sub standard workmanship. Following on from this the standard of work will continue to fall below par because it is what will be accepted on sites and for home owners. I am not claiming to a master craftsman here, nor am I suggesting every job i turn over is perfect however I know my work is to a proper tradesman standard and i have done my best to bring my best quality of work using the correct methods and materials.

There is also the risk of work, and the historic building fabric of Scotland falling into the wrong, uneducated pair of hands, for example general builders filling Victorian Sandstone buildings with cement mortar and not using proper work practices. We all know why that’s bad. 
Don’t get me wrong, General builders have their rightful place in the trades, but if you’re not a professional at sandstone restoration - leave it for someone else for the good of the industry and the customers we serve. 

In my opinion we need to be bringing more young people through the apprenticeship programmes as well as giving our labourers a chance to learn proper methods and unlock their potential on the tools rather than just holding a brush and filling rubbish bags. I also think schools have a part to play in pushing the importance of apprenticeships. There is a misconception that construction work is all digging holes neck deep in mud and being a low intelligence job however it couldn’t be further from the truth - I regularly use trigonometry to work out gable end pene sizes, remember learning that in 3rd year thinking ‘when will I ever use this in real life’ 😅

There also has to be a focus on on the fact that there is routes into the industry that is not solely tool and site orientated. Site management, quantity surveying, architecture, engineering etc (and I could go on) are all great and great paying ways into the industry if you’d like to experience both the academic side of the trade and the site side. 

I will, for sure be taking on apprentices year after year when I get the chance. I have already took my labourer from someone with very basic tool skills to someone who can confidently rake out and repoint using lime mortar - and I’m happy about that because more opportunities to learn will come his way. I feel like I’m giving back in the sense I’m sharing my skills to broaden the trade skills we have in Scotland. 

I am writing this as a part of a weekly blog style post where I will digest my thoughts on current trade and Stonemasonry specific topics. There’s me as a young, keen and fresh faced apprentice getting the opportunity to work on some very significant pieces of historic building fabric of Scotland. 

Up the trades 👷‍♂️