Electrical contractors worse off

The 2013 NECA Market Monitor released in September clearly shows that although industry charge-out rates have gone up by 7% since the 2011 survey, the cost of doing business has risen by around 25% over the past year alone. So the average electrical contractor is considerably worse off today than they were two years ago.

Some of the interesting trends from this survey are: the average contracting business employs 13 people (up from 9 in 2011); less than 8% of the industry employ more than 25 people; overheads have risen by up to 40%; home automation, possibly due to the NBN, is emerging as a key skills requirement; the number of apprentices being taken on is falling; the most significant ‘new technology’ skills relate to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The pressure on the new federal government to revisit the challenges of running a small business is enormous. And we will be reminding all the new ministers we meet of exactly what our industry needs to see change, which includes the rethinking of the National Licensing issue and further support of the ACCI’s 2BIG2IGNORE campaign which we sponsor.

In 2005, NECA launched an initiative to raise the awareness of the safety issues around non-compliant products. More recently, we joined forces with Voltimum to launch the Does it Comply? campaign. This campaign is a comprehensive industry-driven initiative that reinforces the dangers of non-compliant products in order to keep this issue at the forefront of people’s minds.

The recent withdrawal of non-compliant cabling in NSW and Queensland is a stark reminder of what happens when people get it wrong. We therefore strongly urge all electrical contractors to visit www.doesitcomply.com.au and sign the pledge to stamp out non-compliant goods across Australia.

Another initiative we are proud to be supporting is the drive by KNX - a global standards not-for-profit organisation, to encourage manufacturers to produce products to an international building control standard in order to allow the end user to select the systems and range of products that best suit their particular needs. The days of being locked into one range of products, which generally also meant being locked into using one manufacturer, are clearly a thing of the past. And this is great news for the industry and the consumer. So a true win-win.

www.neca.asn.au