Five brickies compete for each job available

Five bricklayers are fighting for every job available in the sector, an industry expert has told CJ.

Brickwork contractors have been some of the first to suffer the fallout from housebuilders' woes.

Association of Brickwork Contractors chairman Geoff Irvine told CJ: "There's no doubt about it, there is a glut of bricklayers at the moment looking for work. If you were to put an advert in for bricklayers at the moment, you'd have to put the phone in a bucket of water, it'd get so hot."

"There are probably five bricklayers for every job that is available and that has a knock-on effect in the marketplace.

"More worryingly than that, people become more relucantant about taking on apprentices. Everyone is cutting back on their bricklayers. What worries me is that if these guys can't find work, they'll go out eventually not to return," he added.

Meanwhile, work has dried-up to the point that contractors are being forced to pile into publicly-funded work to survive.

The scramble for work has caused labour rates to drop over the past year, which is cancelling out the rising cost of materials.

"There will be no perceived wage rises within the brickwork industry this year and some contractors have even cut peoples' wages," he said.

But Irvine offered a crumb of comfort to hard-pressed companies in the sector. "You just have to weather the storm. In conditions like this, it's the cowboys that go to the wall. The good firms survive these situations and then go forward from strength to strength," he said.