Building the foundations of recovery

By Sarah Ransome
BBC Radio Five Live, Plymouth

Out from behind the worktops waiting to be fitted wafts the cheery whistle of Sean McEvoy, he is glad to be out on the tools today - he has not had much to smile about recently.

Low quotes and pay cuts helped keep Mr McEvoy's business ticking over

For the last 20 years or so, Mr McEvoy has been a jobbing builder with an order book to be proud of. He even used to turn work away. But, back in March his phone stopped ringing and the work began to dry up.

For the first time since setting up CHI Construction in the 1980s, Mr McEvoy says he was really worried.

He and his team decided they would take a pay cut to keep quotes low, and he spends a lot of time chasing jobs now, whereas before the jobs would come to him.

He says he is doing what he can to ride it out.

Knock-on effect

"People aren't spending their money so we're trying to keep in play to be there when things turn around and everything get back to normal really, because it's not normal at the moment," Mr McEvoy adds.

"It's difficult times for everyone and there's a knock-on effect through my customers, through me and down to my guys and their families."

Things have certainly improved since the beginning of the year Bill Cawse, Midas Homes

There is work out there, but at the moment it is having to stay on hold until people can get hold of their money, or feel like they want to spend it.

But things are beginning to look up.

Mr McEvoy says his order book is looking a healthier than it has done for months.

"In the last few weeks we've got quite a few more jobs to be going along with, not big jobs but you're keeping going," he adds.

"You're not making a vast profit or anything like that but you're just keeping going until it does turn around properly. I reckon it's going to be around Christmas when it happens."

And that sense of movement in the market is echoed by one of the bigger builders in the South West, Midas Homes.

Improving fortunes

Out on site among the mud and hard hats of a housing development in Plymouth, Managing Director Bill Cawse says there is no question it has been tough.

He had to lay off 40% of his staff and move the rest to a four day week to keep things ticking along.

There was always going to be an area where the market would grow Tim Jones, Devon & Cornwall Business Council

He did not have to mothball any developments, but for a few months on site there was definitely a "slowly, slowly" approach to housebuilding.

Now, with a bit more money in the mix and the banks loosening the purse strings, Mr Cawse has the signed contracts to prove that people are not just window shopping anymore.

"Things have certainly improved since the beginning of the year," he says.

"I think everybody would measure the success of the last six months with the preceding 12. It's far, far more optimistic and far, far more stable."

Gaining pace

Meanwhile, in the offices of the Devon & Cornwall Business Council, they are getting word all the time of projects and developments that are gearing up again - clear evidence, Chairman Tim Jones says, of a recovery in the making.

He points out that it is important to understand just how much the construction industry underpins region's economy.

So when he sees more evidence of people looking to buy property, more sales being pushed through and more investors looking to buy land and develop those sites; he believes they are clear signs that the region is bouncing back.

Prospects are definitely on the up for Mr Cawse

"There was always going to be an area where the market would grow and we are now seeing that in the housing market, which is incredibly important," Mr Jones adds.

"It's a real wealth creator, it's a real job creator and has a big multiplier effect on other parts of the market.

"That evidence is clear. It's happening on the ground at the moment and it will lead to some fantastic results for the South West," he says.

He admits the thousands of one-man-band builders in the South West may not see their order books filling up straight away, probably the bigger firms will experience that first.

He also readily admits that there are still tough times ahead, with some small firms going to the wall.

But with what he is seeing on the ground, he remains convinced he is starting to see the South West economy on the mend.