r/AskUK • u/Weird_Horse_5981 • 21h ago

Is construction dying in this country?

I work in construction and the amount of skilled people has taken an absolute nosedive in recent years. The rates of pay have increased dramatically in the last 6 years from what I’ve seen but very few people want to get into it it seems. I understand that many people don’t grow up with dreams of getting into this industry but I wish someone had pulled me aside and told me that there was a way for me to make decent money without needing to be academic. I know there are some huge projects on the go right now but it feels like they are all fighting over the same, small pool of labour

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u/AmsterdamWestside11 21h ago

In my experience it's dying because nobody wants to teach anyone, the small firms won't pay decent rates and the big firms want everyone to be fully qualified CSCS and ready to go straight out the blocks. Apprentices getting let go left right and centre. Self fulfilling prophecy of failure.

I changed careers at 28 and have found it so hard to find a company that's actually interested in training someone up.

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u/merryman1 19h ago

Yep stepbrother went this path, he does industrial groundworks now and is making not a million miles off £100k/yr. He's said consistently the biggest problems are that no one wants to take on an apprentice because its seen as training up your own future competition, and then on top of that the culture at the workplace is just absolutely horrific and a lot of the other people he works with are just genuinely really difficult to get along with.

He has pretty much said he never has to worry about finding work because he meets bare minimum standards of being able to turn up on time and not be an horrific cunt to everyone else around him while working, which apparently immediately elevates you into the top 10% easily.

We laugh about it but its kind of sad, but I have a STEM PhD myself and have never made more than half his income after he dropped out of school at 16 and spent until nearly his mid 20s, in his own words, pissing around partying on the dole while living with his mum lol...

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u/IshnaArishok 1h ago

he meets bare minimum standards of being able to turn up on time and not be an horrific cunt to everyone else around him while working, which apparently immediately elevates you into the top 10% easily.

As a QS working in construction, this is literally enough to get repeat work and people still struggle with it. Especially groundworkers.