COVID19 - Ongoing impact on repairs service

The Association has now, following the removal of the Covid-19 restriction, returned to a full repair service including carrying out inspections where required.

While we are endeavouring to meet with our time scales, we are being affected by wider issues in the construction industry in trying to deliver our repair service.

Our reactive maintenance contractor, McDougals, are advising that it is becoming more and more difficult to recruit suitably trained and qualified tradespeople, in particular joiners.

In addition, there continues to be significant delays on some jobs due to material shortages and delays in delivery.

These issues are being widely reported in the media.  On the 26th October 2021, an article in the Scottish Housing News reported:

“Almost 90% of small to medium-sized (SME) construction firms in the UK have reported having to delay jobs due to a lack of materials or skilled tradespeople, according to the latest State of Trade Survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).”

On a positive note, the Association and its partners are continuing to deal with emergency repairs without any major impact on timescales. It is routine repairs or jobs to replace certain things, for example doors and windows, where we are experiencing the worst delays.

We will continue to work with our contractors and suppliers to overcome these issues as best we can but these external factors are beyond our control and we thank you for your continued patience during this time.