The Builder
Given the amount of construction taking place in Spain one could be forgiven for thinking it was the country’s major industry. Motorways are still being built, linking major Mediterranean cities to the capital Madrid. Distribution depots owned by companies in Europe, the USA and Spain are springing up at major road junctions. In cities and along coastal strips, hotels, apartments and houses continue to be built. Factories, assisted by EU grants, are being erected too, thus maintaining Spain’s industrial growth.
Construction is big business. It is highly skilled. There is a shortage of skilled tradesmen, and many travel from the more remote parts of Spain to work on the coastal developments.
What of the house builder? Broadly there are three types.
Fig. 9.
Los hombres grandes of the buying process
- A large builder accustomed to building 500 houses or one large apartment block per year. He may be in partnership with a developer but his main business preoccupation is with planning, finance and management. The actual building work is carried out by a team of site managers. He will rarely get involved in sales or marketing, appointing several multi-lingual agents to perform this task. Sometimes, however, he will sell direct to the public, cutting out agents and their commissions.
- A medium sized builder constructing 30 to 50 units per year. A row of terraced houses or individually designed properties cut into the hillside are examples of the scale of his operation. The builder himself would be on site supervising the day to day activities but he too would probably appoint agents to carry out sales and marketing.
- A small builder, who may be Spanish or originally from Ireland, Britain or Germany, who will at the most be engaged in house restoration, or at a minimum engaged in laying garden patios or building dividing walls. He will carry out all the work personally.
They are all highly skilled individuals. Employees will be treated firmly but benevolently, as befits an industry with a labour shortage. Starting work at 8.00 am and finishing at about 6.00 pm they will have breakfast at 10.00 am and a longer break for lunch at 2.00 pm – complete with the customary bottle of red wine which will be taken, or left, much as a Northern European would treat a glass of water.