It’s time to act against errant builders

The world of business can be a tough and unforgiving place. The most successful businessmen drive the hardest deals. Critics would call them ruthless. Realists would however characterize them as very good at what they do. Moreover, a well-run business that makes money for its owners also makes money for its employees and their families and thus for the wider economy. Good businessmen and women are a sign of a healthy and vibrant free market.
Yet even the most hard-bitten businessman will have some trusted relationships, classically with other business people, with whom he has worked over the years. Extremely large deals can be agreed between corporate principles in a few minutes over a coffee or even the phone and the details left to lawyers and accountants to sort out.
Therefore trust is not of itself bad business. At the consumer level the same criteria apply. We tend to go to shops or outlets that we have come to know and trust, where we know the quality of the goods and services that are provided are of the best. And as they come to know us, the retailers demonstrate their trust, perhaps by giving us a better deal, because we have become regular customers, and trusting us to pay at a later date for goods that we take immediately. In such circumstances, doing business becomes a pleasure for both sides.
The point about this relationship of trust, be it with the businessman or the consumer, is that it is based on experience. Yet there are certain important areas where such experience is hard to acquire directly and it is necessary to rely on the experience of others.
Construction is one such field and unfortunately recent discoveries about the behavior of a few building firms, have cast a shadow of doubt over the whole sector. Effectively it has been revealed that some construction companies have been using substandard materials and inexperienced and incompetent laborers and supervisors. Construction ventures from housing to important office and industrial projects have been “thrown up”, as one customer has put it, without regard to plans, safety regulations or contractual obligations.
The full extent of this scandal is not yet clear and the authorities are rightly investigating. There has been criticism that one reason rogue firms have been able to get away with their dishonest conduct is that there is no effective official inspection system to check on what construction firms are doing. This stricture is however a little unfair.
It is the duty of a client to ensure that the contracted works are being undertaken exactly as to specification. For this a customer would employ architects or surveyors or in the case of a major deal, an independent project manager. These people would sign off on each stage of a scheme, having inspected what had been done and confirmed that it was as it should be. Moreover they would confirm that a construction project was proceeding on time and would be delivered as scheduled. Given that most building contracts carry penalty clauses for late delivery, such an independent, professional assessments are essential.
So clearly, the rogue construction companies that are currently being unmasked, have not been properly supervised by the customers’ agents. This is not to shift the blame away from the cheats in the industry who seek to cover their building fraud with a smooth rendering, but it is important that it be recognized that the client has responsibilities as well.
However, a man who in good faith buys a new home from a builder, who has cut all sorts of corners and possibly even built a death trap that could collapse or have dangerous electrical malfunctions, will not know this, because he has not seen the place being built. It is likely that the first time he sees his new home is when the realtor drives him to it.
Clearly, the answer is for those companies that rupture the bond of trust by such wholesale cheating, to be sued in the courts, forced to pay compensation and major damages, and, most importantly named and shamed.
And there is something more. The Kingdom’s construction sector already has some remarkable achievements under its belt and is embarked on even more. It therefore has a shining reputation to protect. It is in a stronger position than anyone, to identify and pinpoint rogue construction companies. Indeed it is in the construction industry’s very best interest to do just this. It should be leading the movement to drive these hucksters and shysters out of the business.