Compliance Plus Customer Opinion Research Two Studies from the Building Control Alliance ©...

Compliance Plus Customer Opinion Research

Two Studies from the Building Control Alliance

© Presentations and their content are the copyright of LABC1 |

Agenda

Introductions Paul Everall, Chief Executive, LABC Nigel Barr, Chair ACAI Amanda Evans, Lychgate Paul Wilkins, ACAI Philip Hammond, LABC

Agenda Overview – Phil Hammond, LABC Customer Opinion Research - Amanda Evans, Lychgate Compliance Actions - Phil Hammond, LABC & Nigel Barr, ACAI Questions and discussions


Introduction

Why research?

ACAI and LABC working togetherDemand for evidence that building control ‘works’, ‘adds value’ and isn’t an unnecessary cost burden on industry or tax payersDCLG ‘Consultation’ and Red Tape Challenge, but…Research cost and time resource is a heavy load for a small service:

Fewer than 400 ACAI and LABC teams Fewer than 4,000 surveyors


Introduction

Issues

Unfair attacks by groups using anecdotesNeed for independent professional researchClarify and quantify basic factsBuilding control is primarily a B2B service with outcomes that affect consumers and communities and the opinions of businesses working on real projects (mostly mundane) need to be heard


Introduction

Research plan


Project When

Customer opinion research done

Compliance actions survey done

Professional resources, quals, experience & training survey

Spring 2012

BCPSAG – new Performance Indicators Spring 2012

Enforcement - regularisations, reversions & prosecutions 2012/13

Consumer awareness 2013

Introduction

Private Preview

You are seeing this firstAll data has been held back and there has been no PRWe will be briefing our respective members and issuing press releases through the Building Control Alliance


Customer Opinion Research

Amanda Evans

My session this morning:

Lychgate – profileBuilding Control customer opinion research briefMethodology and sampleKey findings



Lychgate

Independent B2B research consultancy est. 1986Specialists in building industry (90% of turnover)Members of MRS and CIMProvision of high quality feedback from all levels in the industry, including Clients, Architects, Engineers, Main Contractors, Housebuilders, Housing Associations and Specialist sub-contractorsClients are product manufacturers, service providers and trade associations including Lafarge, Hanson, British Gypsum, Construction Products Association, NHBC, Considerate Constructors Scheme and Constructionline© Presentations and their content are the copyright of LABC8 |


Research objectives

Identify customer opinions: Perceptions of building control and its value Contribution to projects and benefits it brings Experience of the building control system Satisfaction with the building control system and

Building Regulations Consideration of alternatives Improvements required



Sample and methodology

Statistically valid sample balanced to reflect different segments of business usersSample sourced independently by Lychgate, representative nationally to reflect regional construction outputIn-depth telephone interviews, lasting on average 16 minsIdentified and interviewed those interacting with building control… decision-makers and users


Respondent profile segmentsDevelopers & other end clients Developers 18

Other property clients 13

Architects & plan drawers Top 100 firms 21

Medium/small architects 52

Freelance plan drawers 35

House builders Top 15, at regional level 27

Other top 100 17

Small house builders 64

Contractors Top 100 43

Regional/specialist contractors 56

Small builders Small builders 142

Specialists Loft conversion 16

Roofing 13

Replacement windows 7

Fit out 17

Total 541



92% believe they benefit from an independent and impartial third party inspection service Their ‘depth’ of belief in this is high too. On a scale of 1 - 10 (with 10 high), 89% rate the benefit of

building control to their projects at 7 or more, with similar results across all groups Building Regulations also viewed positively – 49% did not have any issues with the system


Key Findings – Benefits of Building Control


High customer attachment to building control system 94% feel it reassures clients that the job is carried out properly 70% feel it reduces risk


1%

2%

1%

2%

2%

5%

5%

10%

14%

4%

6%

12%

16%

18%

25%

56%

63%

64%

64%

53%

52%

38%

29%

18%

15%

17%

8%

Ultimately helps you satisfy clients that the job has been carried out properly …

Helps you achieve compliance (540)

Improves the standards of buildings and their performance (539)

Gives you the opportunity to discuss a solution which you would prefer (534)

Reduces your risk on projects (539)

Helps to find a solution which you may not have considered (536)

1 Does not help at all 2 to 4 5 to 6 7 to 9 10 Helps / contributes a lot

Ultimately to what extent does the involvement of Building Control help you to achieve the following?

Key Findings – Benefits of Building Control


Just over 3 in ten considered it to be a “smooth” process, but 4 in ten thought it could be “challenging”


Key Findings – A challenging process?

Would you say the Building Control process is...?

But regardless of whether they thought it smooth or challenging, 97% believe the system is worthwhile to

achieve safe and compliant buildings


93% believe it is important that the building industry should use independent checks rather than self-certification

When asked which they would prefer for their own company, 80% would rather have third party assessment than self certification

Specialist trades expressed a slightly stronger preference for self certification (but still only 27% would prefer)


Key Findings – third party assessment and self certification

In your opinion, how important is it to the industry to have independent third parties checking

compliance with Building Regulations?



Acceptable level of satisfaction

1 Very dissatisfied

10Very satisfied

7

How satisfied are you with the Building Control Surveyor?Average scores out of 10

Key Findings – Service Level Satisfaction

Satisfaction with the service is high with average scores of 8 out of 10These scores are high compared with those achieved in other building industry sectors (based on other research conducted in the last 3 years in the building industry)Only 6% could be described as ‘dissatisfied’ (gave scores of 6 or less)The main issue is dissatisfaction with response times and technical consistency between building control bodies and individual surveyors


Key Findings – Business Customer Priorities

Business users of building control want a service that is / provides: Co-operative and helpful - 8.0 Timely advice & service - 7.7 Professional - 8.3 Responsive - 7.7 Flexible - 7.4 Offers advice proactively - 7.4 Pre-empts problems - 7.0 Is part of the project team - 7.4 Gives good quality technical advice - 8.0

80% made suggestions for improvement, including “consistency” and “better response” – not a new system



Final thoughts

Customers value building control and the building regulations systemSatisfaction with the Building Control service is high compared with other building industry services / productsLow dissatisfaction amongst users (contractors etc) and end customers (developers / building owners)Very high commitment to using an independent third party checkThose preferring self certification are in the minority – even amongst specialist contractors


Next Survey


National Compliance Actions Survey

The largest ever building control study

Objective to measure daily work - instructions given to clients on their plans, on-site or through extra email or telephone conversationsBoth public and private sector building control20 working days – the whole of NovemberA good ‘average’ working month248 building control bodies responded in total69% of LABC’s network65% of ACAI members



Big Numbers

An ‘average’ working month produced 277,046 compliance interventions on 198,338 projectsInterventions could be during plan checking or inspectionsThis does not mean an ‘average’ of 1.4Most projects will run for a number of months so the total of interventions on a project would be greater High volume of domestic projects and fit outs makes the average duration circa 4 months




Part Total InterventionsA Structure 55,538

B Fire 54,736

L Energy 38,899

H Drainage 23,796

C Moisture 22,845

M Access 14,863

F Ventilation 14,809

K Falls 11,184

P Electrics 9,754

E Sound 8,791

J Flues 7,736

G Hygiene 5,991

N Glazing 4,801

D Toxics 592


Safe to Extrapolate

67% response rate from the ACAI and LABC network gives a sound statistical base100% interventions @ 413K per month = 4.9 million interventions p.a.

I



Are all interventions important?

We asked for a simple classification28% were deemed of “High” importance – an urgent, major issue39% were “Moderate” – would cause issues if not rectified32% classified “Low” – not up to standard, but not a major health, safety or performance issueSo two-thirds of interventions prevented immediate or future problems



What have we learned?

1.Compliance actions are far more extensive than we thought

2.Building control bodies apply equal effort to interventions that are not life threatening

3.Two-thirds of interventions are made for important reasons



Thank You

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