We are not out of recession yet – but light is at the end of the tunnel

The CBI, for example, has reported that it predicts that we are coming out of recession right now. But it sends a word of caution that it is still going to be a tough 18 months.

Certainly headlines like “mortgage approvals rise 81 per cent over the year” from the British Bankers Association along with news that housebuilders Redrow and Barratt are getting their war chests stocked with cash through rights issues suggests that things are looking better in the house building sector. We have also heard of promising statements from Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon. Acquisition of land or competitors plus funding of work in progress all sounds very promising.

On the flip side the news is also full of discussion around the issues of government spending, or more to the point, the need to rein this back in. “Political pressures” in this year’s conference season must be making a number of CEO’s in all sectors of the construction supply chain reconsider their efforts in targeting government funded projects.

Clearly now is a good time to revisit a company’s approach to the different sectors in the industry and evaluate its offer for each.  Two years ago the trend was to “refocus” on public funded projects such as those in the education and healthcare sectors. At that time housing lead us into recession but now it looks as though it is going to lead us out of it.

But we mustn’t forget that the stats that are hitting the headlines are growth from a very low base and it is going to take years for the various sectors of the construction industry to reach the levels of spend and activity that we saw in 2007.

So we still need to be extremely diligent with our marketing investment and flexible to changing trends in the many sectors of the market.

If you need to have a forward look at which sectors you might focus on for next year, it would be worth attending the Construction News/Construction Products Association Forecasting Conference.  Now in its eighth year, this popular and useful event is a good guide to the coming year’s ups and downs.

Also, CIMCIG’s own conference on December 2 – Strategy 2010 – is all about being ready for what the new year may bring. At a time when many of you are looking to the future, these two events could be a big help.

And another thing…..

Good brands take years of blood, sweat, tears and huge amount of money to create. This weeks OFT ruling on bid rigging shows how easy it is to ruin or even destroy this. A large number of household names now have a major task of rebuilding customer confidence which may ultimately cost and awful lot more than the “approx 1% of turnover” that they have been fined. Looks like the marketing and business development guys have a chance to prove their worth.

Ian Exall is the Operational Marketing Manager at insulation manufacturer Rockwool and a committee member of CIMCIG, the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s construction industry group.