How to Hire a Construction Professional: Tips for UK Business Owners

The UK imposes numerous regulations on the construction industry to ensure quality control. Hence, professional guidance and supervision are required. As a business owner, you may be renovating an office space, creating a new industrial site, or developing a new property. But the question is, who do you consult and how do you hire? The answer to this is a well-described guide on how to hire a construction professional.

Understanding the current scenario of construction professionals

The construction industry is facing a skills shortage at this moment. This is due to the post-pandemic change in workforce, migration issues due to Brexit, and an aging group of professionals.

The CITB, or the Construction Industry Training Board, currently states that 216,800 new workers are needed in the construction industry to meet demands by the end of 2025.

Roles such as on-site surveyors, building surveyors, and site managers are currently in high demand.

This means, as a business owner, you have to be quick to hire professionals who fill out these positions.

A list of tips for business owners

A business owner like you needs to be well aware of the legalities, regulations, and certifications.

A gist of what the industry and government require makes hiring a construction professional a multifaceted process.

With the rise in certifications and additional skill sets, it is essential to adopt a methodical approach.

Here is a list that you can follow to make the hiring process easy:

1. Define the current scope of your building projects:

Before searching or analyzing, get a good understanding of what the project requires. This involves:

  • Type of Professionals Who Need to be Hired: Do you want a project manager, a site surveyor, or a site manager? It can also be a bricklayer, a carpenter, or even an electrician who does the wiring work.
  • Time: Is it a long-term project or a short-term project?
  • Does it require specific skill sets? Is the project sustainable, or does it incorporate digital building tools like BIM or a particular compliance?
  • Are certifications required? CSCS card, NVQ trade-specific licenses, and NICIEC
  • What is the budget involved? The budget required for salaries, recruitment costs, and fees

2. Get a clear understanding of UK regulations and certifications

It is extremely important to maintain quality, as the UK construction industry is highly regulated. Construction professionals should be hired as per the relevant standards. A checklist that contains all these requirements should be met:

  • Understanding of health and safety: Be familiar with health and safety regulations. CDM (Construction Design and Management, 2015) is the main set of regulations that offer construction projects health, safety, and welfare.
  • Understanding of qualifications: Always implement relevant qualifications in different project areas. ICE for civil engineers, RIBA for architects, and CIOB for construction management.
  • Look for professional memberships: A membership in a reputable body is one way of ensuring that a construction professional complies with regulations. A few of these bodies are RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors), CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers), CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building)
  • Making sure insurance coverage is there: Public Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance are important for ensuring mishaps and accidents are well covered.

3. Make use of recruitment platforms and referrals

There are various ways of hiring construction professionals. It can include posting a job, crafting attractive job descriptions, and getting referrals from partnership companies. Here are some options that make the hiring process easy:

  • Use of job boards: Creating attractive job descriptions that state the job summary, role requirements, and experience on platforms like Indeed, Reed, LinkedIn, and TotalJobs
  • Recruitment Agencies: Connect with an agency that specializes in the construction sector and provides professionals like Trade Recruit UK
  • Through Referrals: A network of professionals and word of mouth through reputable sources makes the hiring process easy by pitching in the requirements of the job to them
  • Through trade fairs and industrial conference: Professionals who have worked with similar industries can sign up for trade fairs to network and gain a wide range of contracts
  • Direct applications to the company website: If your business has a strong reputation, you can consider posting job requirements on your website
  • Leverage social media use: Social media sites like Facebook can be used as an effective recruitment platform. This could involve posting in relevant job groups to get access to local networks

4. Screening through interviews and background checks

A construction professional needs to showcase a list of projects they have completed or are currently working on. Their relevant experience can be highlighted by asking them questions related to the field of their work, paired with real-life scenarios.

  • Ask technical questions: Technical questions directly highlight the knowledge of the construction professional. It can be related to construction methods, regulations, and project scenarios
  • Conduct background checks: Ask questions and enquire into previous projects with past employers. This will give you clarity on the history of the person you’re hiring.
  • Make them explain their portfolio: By letting them explain their portfolio and asking for examples of previous work, an insight is gained into the role
  • Check for qualifications and certifications, and work eligibility: Qualifications and certifications allow you to assess whether they are eligible and legal enough to work on-site. If the worker is an immigrant, it is important to comply with immigration laws

5. Offer and negotiate a competitive salary, then onboard

Offering a competitive salary with benefits is an important part of hiring a construction professional. As a business owner, you need to retain individuals like them to ensure that you will offer them ongoing work.

  • Offer them an attractive salary package with benefits: An attractive salary paired with benefits ensures a professional is assured of job security
  • Provide a legally sound contract: A legal employment contract makes sure that the terms and conditions are in compliance with government regulations and rules.
  • Provide a smooth onboarding process: Introduce the construction professional to the team and make them acquainted with expectations for the roles, along with your business guidelines

Conclusion: What To Expect?

To hire a construction professional, you must be methodical in your approach. It starts from requirements, then understanding regulations and accreditations, and then posting jobs at platforms or through referrals. After that comes the interview to screen candidates for relevant experience, and finally, the onboarding process by offering them legally compliant contracts to retain them in the long run.

A business owner like you cannot expect to do all of these things by yourself. You need the help of an agency like Trade Recruit UK.

Trade Recruit UK offers expertise in the construction industry by letting you connect with top professionals. With a wide range of services offered, who would it be to solve your needs if not us?!

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