Construction workers are most afraid of expensive energy and corruption

Prague - Among the four biggest threats to Czech construction, companies rank the rise in energy prices as the top concern, followed by corruption in the sector, an increase in wage costs to EU levels, and a halt in the growth of the construction industry. From the perspective of their own companies, the biggest risk remains expensive energy, with rising wages marked as the second biggest threat, followed by a halt in industry growth and increasing prices of construction materials and products. This is based on a survey conducted by Incoma Research among construction firms and suppliers of building materials.
    Suppliers of building materials see energy prices again as the biggest threat, followed by the halt in construction growth, increasing wages to EU levels, and frequent changes in taxes. The construction companies themselves regard expensive energy and high wages as equally serious risks, but for suppliers, fear of rising construction material prices follows after them, while concerns about a halt in industry growth are ranked fourth.
    If companies were to assess the biggest opportunities for Czech construction as a whole, they ranked investments from European funds in first place, closely followed by the increase in the number of modernizations and reconstructions, in third place is the inclusion of transportation infrastructure into European networks, and in fourth place, foreign investments in the Czech Republic.
    From their perspective, companies see the biggest opportunities in Czech construction primarily in increasing the number of renovations and modernizations of buildings. As the second biggest opportunity, builders view the emphasis on the construction of ecological buildings, and in third place, they have high expectations from foreign investments in the Czech Republic, with the importance of EU structural fund grants and the introduction of the euro rated similarly.
    When it comes to the weaknesses of Czech construction, builders assign the greatest weight to the small number of apprentices preparing for the sector. In second place is the number of skilled craftsmen, followed by legislation and its frequent changes in third.
    According to companies, the main strengths of domestic construction lie primarily in the knowledge of local conditions, which is followed by the professional qualifications of engineers and architects, and in third place, the ability to carry out construction projects of the highest technical complexity and quality.
    The number of companies dissatisfied with their own results over the past three years is decreasing. In 2005, ten percent were dissatisfied, the year before four percent, and last year only three percent. Conversely, as construction grows, so does the number of companies that labeled the past season as the most successful in their history. Last year, 24 percent of companies used this assessment, in 2006 it was 11 percent of builders, and a year earlier it was only one percent of companies.
    The survey conducted by Incoma Research involved nearly 150 domestic construction companies and suppliers of building materials.
    According to the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office, construction production last year slightly accelerated its growth in constant prices to 6.7 percent. In December, it recorded a year-on-year growth of 5.6 percent, which represents a slowdown compared to the November growth of 7.1 percent. The value of new construction contracts secured in 2007 decreased year-on-year by 11.9 percent.