The Federation of Master Builders is positioning itself as a candidate to run any future government scheme to licence building contractors working in the domestic sector.
The possibility that government is considering such a scheme was raised last month when the Department for Business Innovation and Skills confirmed that it had commissioned research into the use of mandatory licensing schemes in other countries, including the US and Australia.
The research project had been prompted by pressure group Meg’s Campaign, set up by the family of three-year-old Meg Burgess. She died in north Wales in July 2008 when an unsafe wall built by contractor George Collier collapsed on top of her. Collier was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and jailed for two years in October 2012.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said the organisation was open to the idea of a licensing scheme. “A lot of our members see the benefits of having a scheme to protect reputable builders — there’s an image problem with cowboy builders that colours the public’s perceptions. There could be a downside, if it involves an additional cost. But as an organisation, we’re looking at it seriously.”
He continued: “For it to be effective, it would have to be a compulsory scheme to create a level playing field, so you would need a licensing body to oversee that. The FMB already has entry criteria [including on technical competence] and we do checks before companies join, so for us it would be a logical extension to fit into that role.”
The FMB’s entry criteria on technical competence are based on assessing a sample of a company’s work. The checks are carried out by an inspector from the British Board of Agrément.
The closest thing to a licensing scheme currently is TrustMark, the voluntary consumer protection scheme that covers building work and related trades. Its chairman, Liz Male, has also suggested that it could take on the characteristics of a licensing scheme if use of TrustMark-endorsed firms was mandated by banks, insurance companies and any other bodies funding domestic works.
But Berry dismissed the suggestion that TrustMark could take on that role. “TrustMark covers so many different trades, but Meg’s Campaign is about building companies.”
According to a BIS spokeswoman, the research project on licensing overseas is for internal use and there are no plans to publish it.
