The national skills shortage is a widely reported and growing challenge and a real concern for those working in the industry today.

As many as 80% are expressing worries about the shortage, and 88% say more should be done to attract new industry talent, including creating more apprenticeships (74%), more bursaries (58%), changes to the education system (48%), and investment in more training (34%).

Over 40% of tradespeople stated that their business has been affected by the crisis, and established tradespeople have reported the lack of support available in the sector. 64% of Howdens’ trade customers called for more resources to support self-employed tradespeople.

Howdens also found that 47% of trades don’t think there is enough existing support for those running their businesses.

Two-thirds of tradespeople (59%) have wished they had peer-to-peer advice and support from other tradespeople when experiencing work stress, and nearly a third of tradespeople (28%) have wished they had a mentor when experiencing issues when running their own business.

In response, and amid the industry-wide skills shortage, Howdens Business Builder launches as a free online source of information and peer-to-peer tips from established tradespeople to help fellow trades to build and grow their businesses.

It brings together experts to share insight on finances, managing your business, customer acquisition and retention, marketing a small business, and more.