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One fifth of tradespeople worry
their working practices are outdated
» IN A RECENT SURVEY IT WAS
revealed that 1/5 of tradespeople are
concerned that the way they are currently
working is outdated and 10 per cent admitted
that they barely use any technology as part of
their daily work.
These findings come from a new survey by
Dakea, a leading manufacturer of high-quality,
affordable roof windows that are built for the
trade, which questioned 500 roofers, installers
and local contractors around the country about
how effectively they utilise modern technology.
25 per cent of the respondents said that
they believe the entire trade industry needs
to be better at adopting tech in the workplace
and a further 1/5 acknowledged that they don’t
use technology effectively in their day-to-day
job. With the pressures caused by COVID-19
forcing new approaches to work, these results
have highlighted that some tradespeople might
struggle to replace face-to-face activity with
digital alternatives.
However, there are those in the trade who
are embracing the advantages that technology
can bring. The two main business benefits that
tradespeople said they got out of such modern
working methods included achieving time
savings (47%) as well as financial gains (37%).
29 per cent of tradespeople said that they
actively keep up with the latest advances, with
the most popular reasons for using technology
being:
• Browsing merchant/manufacturers
websites (66%)
• Purchasing products (61%)
• Completing finances (40%)
• Online training/webinars (34%)
• Admin (31%)
• Accessing loyalty schemes (26%)
Undertaken as part of Dakea’s ‘Trade Matters’
campaign, the survey identifies the areas where
the trade industry needs the most support in
order to help the everyday life and businesses of
roof window installers in the UK.
To make sure that tradespeople can get
to grips with the technology they need to
know, Dakea has created a selection of free
guides that includes advice on the websites,
apps, tools and tech that can help them save
time, learn new skills and drum up business
opportunities.
The guides are of real relevance right now,
with many tradespeople having used the
lockdown period to learn new skills (31%),
catch up on admin (31%) or update social media
profiles and reviews so that they can better
generate business at a later date (26%).
Mhairi McDougall, Country Manager UK
and Ireland at Dakea, said: “With the current
pressures on the construction industry
forcing trade professionals to work in new
and innovative ways, it’s imperative that they
have the skills required to work faster, quicker,
better and safer.
“Technology is at the heart of this, as by
understanding what’s out there and how it
works, installers and local contractors can
make a real difference to their day-to-day
work in a number of ways. Just one example
of this is the amount of time that can be saved
by embracing digital advances, whether it’s
avoiding the need to travel to the customer by
having a video call, using software to simplify
financial admin tasks or using social media sites
to attract leads.”
Dakea discussed the survey’s findings with
a group of builders and installers to see what
they thought about the opportunities provided
by new technology. Roofer Mark Trinder said:
“If you’ve got a five-storey building it could
ABOUT DAKEA
Launched in 2012, Dakea is a provider of
high-quality, affordable roof windows. The
business, which is owned by Altaterra, is
well-established in working with merchants
and installers across Europe.
Covering 90 per cent of market demand,
Dakea delivers the best quality and price
on the market when it comes to roof
windows and installation. It’s an expert
product made with smart professionals in
mind and comes with a 20-year guarantee.
Working directly with customers, Dakea is
committed to developing and improving its
product to meet the needs of professionals.
It is focused on providing education, addedvalue,
and support to professionals.
www.dakea.co.uk
take £20,000 just to put a scaffold up to
inspect the roof, however with a drone you
can do it straight away. You might not see
everything but, for example, you could fly a
drone up to see if there is simply a broken tile
and if there is, then it would save you the time
and effort of putting the scaffolding up.”
Find out more about the survey and
download Dakea’s free guides on
technology at www.tradematters.co.uk
CLEARVIEW-UK.COM » SEP 2020 » 49