Here at PES our business is more or less directly linked to housebuilding and small to medium builders either building one-off houses or putting extensions on existing ones. We sell Volvo excavators and Thwaites dumpers to builders and contractors, Winget site mixers to hire companies and bricklaying gangs here in the west-country and our Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford dumpers spare parts to everybody on a national basis to all of the above. Everybody knows dumpers are intrinsically linked to housebuilders, the more houses we build the busier everybody is.
You would have thought that Angela Rayner, the current Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, announcement that they will build 1.5 million houses by 2029 would produce a warm glow of satisfaction in PES, much like a two week holiday to Chernobyl. However, the cynical nature of us west-country folk with regard to politicians produces the opposite. Without being political, here at PES we are the most unpolitical people you could imagine and think politicians are a necessary evil, we think the lovely Angela is a typical hot-air filled, bold on statements, short on delivery politician. She’s really good at selling her home that she doesn’t live in at a profit whilst avoiding paying tax but how is she going to get the likes of Persimmon, Bovis, Vistry, Redrow and the myriad of other national housebuilders to do it? House prices are high because land value is high and the law of supply and demand says that if you limit supply the prices go up. All these national housebuilders have purchased land at vast expense and the last thing they need is a glut of houses available which will drive prices down. No, I think by the time 2029 comes round and we count the houses actually built it will be woefully short on the 1.5 million promised, it wouldn’t surprise me if it doesn’t change much from today’s output. And, where might you ask will the lovely Angela be in 2019 to be held to account? Let’s face it the chances her of being in her current position in 12 months time are small as she would have moved on up, down or sideways to another position and the 2029 incumbent will come up with ‘I didn’t say we’d build 1.5 million houses by 2029’!!!!
So there we have it, we’d love to see more houses built to alleviate the housing crisis and also increase the amount of machinery and Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford dumper parts that we sell but we’re not holding our breath. However, you never know…………………her buddy Kier Starmer might have smashed the gangs as well!!
Politicians………………luv em.
