'Pingdemic' Hits KBB Installers

The BiKBBi has reported that needless cancellations have already cost kitchen, bedroom and bathroom installers millions of pounds and sown the seed for months of disruption for consumers and industry.

• Survey of over 5000 kitchen, bedroom and bathroom (KBB) installers found that 47% have had to cancel jobs due to customers or installers being ‘pinged’ by NHS Covid app.
• Based on the average cost of jobs this means that millions of pounds has already been lost to the incomes of installers – mostly self-employed sole traders and SME workers.
• Government should take action by recognising safe operating procedures installers have worked to throughout the pandemic and adding vaccinated installers to the exempt list.

The Government must exempt skilled tradespeople operating safe working procedures in people’s homes from having to isolate automatically if they or their customers are ‘pinged’ by the Covid 19 app, according to the British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation (BiKBBI). The call comes in response to the results of a survey of the Institute’s members, which found that almost half of all kitchen, bedroom and bathroom (KBB) installers have had to cancel jobs because of ‘pinging’. This is costing millions of pounds to installers and paving the way for months of disruption for customers, with lead times for jobs already extended due to a shortage of skilled installers able to meet demand.

BIKBBI’s call for installers to join the list of excepted workers recognisng that they – and the wider construction industry – have been operating safely in people’s homes throughout the pandemic thanks to robust safe operating procedures.

Damian Walters, BIKBBI CEO, said:

“Installers are taking a hit on their incomes that’s as unnecessary as it is unfair. They’ve spent the last year working to incredibly safe procedures, meaning that they could continue serving customers throughout the pandemic. For at least half of them to now have to stop working – and earning – as the rest of the country recovers just seems utterly ridiculous.”

“The disruption for customers is also a real kick in the teeth for people who want to invest in their homes after such a tough time and could create a crisis for the industry. Jobs won’t be able to be rescheduled for many months, creating the risk of a wave of cancellations. Having invested to meet the currently high demand, KBB retailers and manufacturers could find themselves at a breaking point in the coming months.”

“Public safety and keeping the virus under control of course needs to be the highest priority, which is why KBB installers introduced robust safe working procedures over the last year. Recognising this by adding them to the list of workers exempt from automatic isolation would be an incredibly sensible thing for the Government to do.”

Source : BiKBBI

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.