In the construction industry, cash flow is king. Yet one persistent and unfair practice continues to drain liquidity from subcontractors and smaller firms – retentions.
The National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) has long campaigned to eliminate or at least reform retentions, and now the Government has launched a major consultation on both late payments and retentions. This is a crucial moment in which the sector can have its say and potentially influence legislative changes. For more information, take a look at this week’s blog.
When you think about construction hazards, you might picture scaffolding, power tools, or heavy machinery. Yet one of the most common (and often underestimated) risks is manual handling.
Every day, workers lift, carry, push and pull a variety of loads – from heavy materials to awkward tools. Done incorrectly, these tasks can lead to painful injuries that affect not just working life, but long-term health too. Keep reading for a reminder of the key DOs and DON’Ts around manual handling on site.
Over the summer months, we used this blog to explore some of the most popular construction careers – from bricklaying and roofing to carpentry, plumbing, painting and decorating. These are quite different roles in terms of skills and daily tasks, but they share one common requirement: if you want to work on a construction site, you’ll almost certainly need a CSCS card.
So, what exactly is a CSCS card, why is it so important and how do you go about getting one? Read on to find out everything you need to know.
In construction, quality isn’t a luxury – it’s the foundation of safety, trust and long-term value. Few areas demonstrate this more clearly than roofing. According to Local Authority Building Control, roofing is the second most common source of construction defects in the UK, accounting for 15% of all issues reported in 2024.
Defects in roofing can compromise livelihoods, put residents at risk, damage building integrity and erode public confidence. In today’s climate of tighter regulation and heightened scrutiny, quality in roofing matters more than ever. Read this week’s blog to find out more and download our new Impact Report on Quality in Roofing.
The construction industry is once again seeing headlines that highlight the challenges in building enough homes to meet demand. Recent figures show that planning approvals have dropped sharply – and for those of us working in construction, that raises questions about what the pipeline of projects could look like as well as other economic risks.
So, what’s behind the downturn and what could it mean for the sector? Keep reading to find out more.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve turned our attention to the thousands of young people who are (or soon will be) contemplating their exam results and asking the question: what next?
We’ve already looked at bricklaying and roofing – two careers that are in high demand and can offer brilliant long-term prospects. But for a young person just starting out, the construction sector literally has hundreds of other opportunities. To conclude our What’s Next series, this week’s blog explores some of those options.
Late payments have long been a thorn in the side of UK businesses – and for those in the construction sector, they can be the difference between thriving and closing the doors for good. Now, the government is stepping in with the most ambitious reforms in decades, promising to tackle late payments head-on and give small businesses the fair treatment they deserve.
With new legislation on the horizon, this could be a turning point for an issue that has plagued our industry for years. But what exactly will it involve and will it be enough? Keep reading to find out more.
With young people nervously awaiting their exam results, many will be eagerly looking forward to starting sixth form or college in the autumn.
Others, however, may still be feeling stuck as to how to answer that big question – what next? As not everyone wants to take a full-on academic route, we’re sharing our insights into some of the practical careers available in construction. We already looked at roofing back in June, so this week we’re asking – ‘could bricklaying be your path?’
Just a few weeks ago, we explored how data centres could act as a bright new dawn for the UK construction sector – offering strong demand, diverse project types and potential for retrofits and technical innovation.
Yet where opportunities arise, so often do unexpected hurdles. Today, data centres remain a major growth driver, but their extraordinary demand for electricity has collided with grid limitations – creating another obstacle that construction projects must overcome. Find out more in this week’s blog.
Earlier this year, we announced that Sheriff Construction had passed a vigorous vetting process to become an official Trade Member of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors.
Now, in this week’s blog, we’ll dive a bit deeper and explore why choosing an NFRC projects is essential for clients looking for peace of mind when it comes to quality, safety, compliance, professionalism and reliability.