All great ideas and strategies founder if we fail to address the green skills shortage
Currently, we have a skills deficit that threatens to strangle at birth significant environmental projects for want of a workforce. MASCo regularly declines commercial opportunities on grounds of inability to find staff to fulfill demand from the market place.
Not just another brick in the wall
Bricks and huge quantities of softwood flooring and carcassing are sent to landfill due to a lack of gangs to dismantle and salvage these valuable materials with markets waiting. Companies like MASCo are overstretched and without the staff or sub-contract capacity to cope. If a brick cleaner works hard enough they can clean 1,000 lime mortared brick per day easily. Purchased on site in their raw state , from a demolition contractor, they can be obtained for between 10p-25p each in quantities of several thousand. If the cost of pallets, cling film and modest handtools are factored in for bricks purchased for 25p each, then simple maths will dictate that 5,000 bricks cleaned and palleted will cost less than £1,500 all in. Allow a further transport cost of £500 for a crane-off artic locally delivering 5,000 bricks, that’s a cost of £2,000 plus taxes to the cleaner. If they are sold at the going rate of 85p each, or £850 per thousand delivered, the cleaner /supplier will see a net profit in the region of £2,250 for their week’s work.
Seems simple to me. Try finding a good brick cleaning gang well enough skilled and trained to do this work. Don’t even think about floorboard lifting gangs, they don’t exist away from the big cities.
Conclusion: Firstly we are wasting valuable resources and secondly we are missing a great employment opportunity.
Contact masco@mascosalvage.com for job skilling info.
