Construction companies are still most troubled by a lack of workers

Prague – Construction companies are still most troubled by the lack of workers, particularly qualified ones. And this is regardless of measures against the spread of coronavirus. This was stated by representatives of construction companies contacted by ČTK. This year, they mostly do not expect a decline in revenue; if they do, it will be a maximum of 15 percent. According to most of them, problems also include complicated administration and poor quality of tender documentation for public competitions.

"We perceive the problems as partly the same as before the coronavirus, especially regarding the lack of qualified workers. There is still a shortage of apprentices and graduates from vocational schools and universities in fields we need in our sector. Caution on the part of private investors, who are postponing their investments, is also evident in the contractual area. This issue is especially felt in the field of civil engineering," said Edita Novotná.

In civil engineering, meaning the construction of apartments, offices, or industrial halls and warehouses, the company expects a year-on-year revenue decline of about a fifth. In infrastructure construction, similar results are expected as last year. "This is also due to the fact that we did not stop any construction work during the state of emergency, and we quickly managed to cope with complications caused by the necessity to ensure the required hygiene and safety conditions for employees, as well as border closures," Novotná added.

According to Vojtěch Kostiha, one of the biggest problems for the company is the lack of private and smaller regional contracts. "At this moment, we anticipate a revenue decline of about ten to 15 percent. No one knows what will happen in the second half of the year. If borders were to close again, there could be issues with a shortage of foreign workers on domestic construction sites and with sending our experts to projects abroad," Kostiha further stated.

Iveta Štočková expects similar results this year as last year. The effects of measures against the coronavirus will manifest in construction, according to her, in the fall and next year. "Currently, we are in the peak construction season and have enough work in our order book. In general, and regardless of the situation surrounding the coronavirus, we are short on people, especially machine operators. We are also still troubled by excessive administration related to construction," Štočková conveyed.

At Michal Talián's company, a revenue decline of a maximum of five percent is expected. He considers poor quality tender documentation for public competitions and subsequent opportunities for objections from unsuccessful participants as the biggest problem, sometimes even from those who did not participate in the competition. "Competitions are often canceled due to errors in the tender documentation. This not only brings losses in terms of costs and time spent preparing public offers but also results in drops in work orders due to postponed or completely canceled tenders," stated Talián.

Director Jan Sixl considers the slowdown or stopping of the issuance of work visas for Ukrainians, who make up a quarter of the company's employees, the biggest issue. "Our revenues for the first half of the year are higher than last year, but we are still only completing projects contracted before the coronavirus. The total turnover will be slightly higher than last year's. The second half of the year will be worse; some planned projects from affected sectors are being postponed to next year or indefinitely," Sixl added.

After a prolonged crisis from 2008 to 2013, construction has grown year-on-year five times in the last six years. Last year it increased by 2.7 percent, the year before by as much as 9.2 percent, the highest since 2003. This year, in the first five months, it fell by 2.1 percent year-on-year, declining by 7.6 percent in May. Analysts expect a decrease in the sector of three to five percent this year.