The final quarter of 2015 saw a surge in work for electrical contractors and further growth is expected during the current quarter…
A new survey from the Electrical Contractors’ Association has revealed how the sector performed in the final quarter of 2015.
The survey, which was conducted in association with Scolmore, revealed small businesses (those with a turnover between £201k-£1m) came out on top. Among this group two in three firms, around 65 per cent, saw an increase in turnover, up some 29 per cent on the previous quarter.
Firms with a turnover of more than £20m saw seven in 10 businesses (some 70 per cent) experience an increase in turnover. This was similar to the previous quarter.
Medium sized businesses saw turnover level out after a strong third quarter, with nearly six in 10 (56 per cent) reporting it stayed the same, while 21 per cent reported an increase.
The areas that saw the most growth included fire and security, building energy management systems, audio visual systems, and datacomms systems.
Eight out of 10 firms said they expected turnover to increase or stay the same during the current quarter.
The survey also revealed an area of major concern for building service firms was payment, with just eight per cent of contractors seeing public sector work paid on time. The private sector saw just six per cent paid within 30 days.
ECA CEO Steve Bratt said: “The ECA’s Building Engineering Business Survey indicates that electrical and building services firms are doing more business, with the biggest increases in turnover seen among small and very large companies.
“However, we believe it is unacceptable that payment continues to be a major concern to contractors across the industry, with the overwhelming majority indicating that they are not paid within 30 days, which is now the widely understood measure of good practice”.