COVID-19 in construction. Grzegorz Głasek Chairman of the board SPS CONSTRUCTION

What nowadays determines the success and maintains the market advantage of a construction company?

It is difficult to answer this question. It is not known today what the consequences of the pandemic will be and which company will succeed, or at least sustainably survive the crisis.
I hope that SPS Construction will belong to the group of companies that will cope with the current situation. I base my optimism on the fact that the company has a good and stable organization, trusted and reliable partners, as well as “financial stock”.

How do construction companies function in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic and what can reduce the risk of employees becoming infected at work?

Companies are trying to function normally. Of course, hygiene measures have increased significantly, especially on construction sites. Also in the office, we try to maintain security, limit direct human contacts to a minimum, do some of the work remotely. Today, the biggest problem is the lack of decision on the part of Investors to start new constructions and, as a result, the prospects for subsequent works are moving away.
Works on construction sites are carried out in accordance with the schedules and actually here, at the moment, I do not see major threats. Of course, some of the employees have left the construction sites, this is especially true for workers from Ukraine, but we manage well.
I am more worried about the future, because the order backlog is shrinking, which was usually at the level of 250 million PLN in SPS, and now it is 150 and it is not expected to grow in the near future. Therefore, we need to adjust the overhead expenses to the existing state by introducing savings (e.g. smaller office, reduction of expenses on the car fleet, advertising, charity and sponsorship, gadgets, withholding of expenses that are not necessary).
Unfortunately, there will be 10 (15) percent redundancies.
Administrative difficulties are also a problem because offices work even worse than usual.

What will the future of the industry look like after the epidemic from your perspective? What impact will the pandemic have on the construction sector?

Of course, the world will change in a very significant way. There will be significant unemployment, consumption will decrease and so do production. The construction world will also be different. Some companies (especially those with no financial resources) will simply not survive. The rest will come out more or less “battered”. And well, life will go on. The market will shrink, companies will have less turnover but maybe we all understand that not only money has value. Maybe we will all be more respected and family life will return to normal.

Last Updated on January 11, 2021 by Karolina Ampulska