Trades employed include: Bricklaying and Stonemasonry, Joinery, Roof Tiling and Slating, Plastering and Roughcasting, Plumbing, Electrical and Heating Installation, Mechanical Plant Operations, Floor and Wall Tiling, and Design and Manufacturing Services
In addition to building a number of high quality developments, McNees also specialise in the design and construction of new homes on clients’ own sites, and sympathetic extensions and renovations of all types of property.
Trades employed include: Bricklaying and Stonemasonry, Joinery, Roof Tiling and Slating, Plastering and Roughcasting, Plumbing, Electrical and Heating Installation, Mechanical Plant Operations, Floor and Wall Tiling, and Design and Manufacturing Services
As an all trades construction company we needed quality trades-people to help us grow our business. Around the year 2000 we realized that we were really struggling to attract and retain the quality of trades-person we needed. There were a variety of factors at that time that had resulted in this –
- A severe nationwide shortage of trades-people as apprenticeships had declined greatly during the 1990s
- The tradesmen we had ourselves, although high quality, were not getting any younger
- Being located in a reasonably remote geographical location, although we did try, we found it difficult to attract staff to relocate to our area
- The company was growing and had excellent opportunities for greater growth in particular in the areas requiring plumbing and electrical skills
We decided the best way to address the need was to ‘grow our own’. From having one apprentice every other year, we planned to take on at least 2 per year across all trades from 2002.
Success would be measured in the following ways
- continued growth and profitability
- the continued high standard of work and reputation for quality that we had established
- staff turnover – having developed these apprentices until they were productive we did not want to loose them.
We decided that we would recruit trainees via the local school, but felt that at only 16 they were too young to fully engage in a career, so planned to target the 17 year olds who had a good standard of education and qualifications and to have them work for a year prior to starting on the formal apprenticeship. This would allow both parties to confirm that this was the correct path for them to follow.
