Because of the housing crisis
Craftsmen are increasingly working in hardware stores
March 4, 2024, 6:18 p.m
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Do-it-yourselfers can look forward to expert advice at the hardware store. Tilers and bricklayers are increasingly moving there, reports the industry association. The reason is bankruptcies in the construction industry. Overall, retailers can look back on a difficult year.
Hardware stores and gardening stores are seeing an increasing number of applicants from skilled trades. “There is a noticeable wave of applications from craftsmen,” said Franz-Peter Tepaß, board spokesman for the Home Improvement, Building and Garden Trade Association (BHB), in Cologne. The number of applications has increased significantly in the past six to eight months. He didn’t give any numbers.
Tepaß sees the development as positive, not only because of the general shortage of skilled workers and workers: “We need exactly this expertise. These are experts who can pass on their knowledge well.” There are several reasons for the increase in the number of applicants – including the crisis in housing construction and the many bankruptcies among project developers and construction companies, which have a negative impact on craft companies. In addition, it is difficult for many people over 50 to cope with the physical demands of certain skilled trades. It is not new that the hardware store industry is a contact point for people in the trades. Tepaß estimates that around a tenth of the employees in specialist retailers previously pursued skilled trades such as painters, tilers or bricklayers.
Sharp drop in sales
However, the industry can also use fresh talent: the dealers have a difficult, even “dramatic” year ahead of them, admitted BHB representatives. Despite increased prices, sales fell by 3.1 percent in 2023, or even by around 9 percent when adjusted for inflation – and thus significantly more than in retail as a whole. Many citizens also used the Corona period to beautify their own four walls, implement renovations and bring them forward. Recently, however, due to high inflation, they have often foregone unnecessary purchases and larger projects for their house and home.
In addition to thrift and a bad mood among many customers, other factors made matters worse: because of the wet weather, the spring business, which is so important for the markets, went poorly. Supply chain problems and the slump in new construction also had a negative impact – the fewer new apartments, the fewer orders for initial equipment. According to its own statements, the dispute over the heating law has also damaged the hardware store industry. Accordingly, sales in the areas of sanitary installation and heating collapsed after the law was passed.