A couple on Horsham Road recently asked us how long a two-storey rear extension in Cranleigh would take from first fix to final skim. Ten years ago that was a straightforward question. Now the honest answer includes a caveat: it depends on whether we can get a plasterer booked in on time. The Construction Industry Training Board says the sector needs almost a million new workers over the next six years, and plastering is one of the trades feeling it hardest — there are roughly 40,000 plasterers left in the UK, and that number is shrinking as older tradesmen retire faster than apprentices come through.
It matters for renovation work because plastering sits at the end of the programme, after first fix electrics and plumbing, insulation and plasterboard are up. A delay there holds up decorators, kitchen fitters, everyone behind it. On a typical Cranleigh extension we’re specifying two coats — a browning scratch coat followed by a Thistle MultiFinish skim from British Gypsum — and that needs a plasterer who knows how to read the suction of the background before they start, not just someone rushed through in six weeks.
The Government has put £600 million behind 60,000 new apprenticeship places, which is welcome, but apprenticeships take three or four years to produce someone you’d trust on a client’s ceiling. In the meantime we’re building slack into programmes for clients in Ewhurst, Alfold and Dunsfold, and being straight with people about lead times rather than promising a start date we can’t hold.
It’s not all doom — the trade is still a good living, and the renovation work around Cranleigh and Godalming hasn’t slowed. But if you’re planning an extension for next spring, the sensible move is to get it priced and booked now rather than in January when everyone else does the same.
ABC Building has been doing renovations and extensions across the Cranleigh area for years — have a look at our recent projects at abcbuildingcranleigh.co.uk/ or give us a call to talk through timings.