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Clients

How We Supply Operatives

We supply skilled trades and labour in four ways:

Contracted and employee Trades & Labour provided at an hourly rate

For all trades and labour contracts we employ a structured planning and management process:

Project Planning – Management

Business Terms: Ship Shape supply the relevant information (including Health & Safety procedures and Insurance certification) to qualify for Client Preferred Supplier Status. We also provide a generous expenditure rebate scheme.

Identify teams (Project Responsibility Overlap) Operative and Client Management are separate roles with overlapping assignment responsibility, creating “double checking” of all work.

Project Planning – Site

Ship Shape aim to take a detailed Site specific brief, to include:

  • details of work taking place
  • relevant skills, qualifications and experience
  • special safety considerations/equipment
  • number of Operatives and scheduling

Ship Shape Account Manager to also attend Site induction wherever possible.

Project Activation

Computer Assisted Supply Estimation: Trades and Labour are less reliable under certain site conditions. The Ship Shape CASE model used inputs of a site’s location, project pay, seasonal factors, hours and conditions to establish any likely attendance shortfall. We source and supply over 100% of required skills in the first week and monitor attendance closely.

Skills Resourcing: Ship Shape secures trades and labour in Sydney as well as London. The antipodean Operatives are usually travelling on working visa or have ancestral visas and are in the UK for 18 months to 4 years. They typically have a background in direct employment for contractors at home, and are employed or subcontracting to Ship Shape while in London – that is: they are not “agency labour” as defined in the UK. Most of these Tradesman complete a four year apprenticeship versus the shorter NVQs completed by British Trades.

Project Stabilisation

At this stage we use CASE to analyse and correct skills supply to ensure a range of 95% to 105% delivery.

Live Operative Cycling is the procedure we use to cycle out any skills underdelivering and introduce Grade A skills finishing other contracts. Ship Shape actively seeks out skills that clients struggle to find. Our Train & Place programme is designed to solve this problem by identifying Operatives capable or attaining these skills and placing them on training courses with our partner CITB registered training establishments.

Price Work

The Price Work system offers the following advantages to our clients:

  • The fixed price nature removes the risk of costly overruns.
  • The client benefits from a subcontracted relationship, but typically at a cheaper rate than traditional subcontractor.
  • The work is typically completed more quickly than in the case hourly rate trades and labour.
  • The client only pays for the work completed.
  • The actual rate for Price Work can be based on metre (e.g. for tiling projects) or unit (e.g. for electrical work). Operatives are issued with project task completion form which is countersigned by the client at regular intervals ensuring that the project proceeds satisfactorily.

Tender/Labour Management Assistance

One of the benefits of long term relationships with Ship Shape is the ability to take on additional, profitable, contracts that may have otherwise been too much of a stretch.

Ship Shape often provide construction services requiring non-core trades and labour across lots of sites, and during peak times. However we can also provide all the core skills required for a single site. For example, a site you would be unable to staff with your current roster of PAYE employees and subcontractors. We can provide a planning service and labour management bundled in with the trades and labour required, while keeping a suitable distance from the relationship you have with your Client.

At the start:

We work with you at tender stage to understand the length of job/likely programme of works and estimate the trades and labour required. We will also plan how the labour volume should fluctuate with project stages. We then provide you with an estimation of labour cost based on either price, hourly or a mix of both.

Throughout the job:

Ship Shape operates as a subcontractor within your contract:

  • the men are briefed to represent you,
  • where required they will wear your high visibility wear
  • any paperwork seen by your client will be branded to represent your company

Ship Shape management keep a close eye on labour logistics
We also operate as a backstop/trouble shooter to keep the job running smoothly

Commercials/Rationale:

The estimate provided is not the guaranteed project delivery resource or cost. In fact the Service you pay for is still the same – labour at an hourly or price work rate on a weekly basis. If the job runs over, the cost will increase. Likewise, if the job completes more quickly you enjoy any savings.

However, the project focused management / bespoke paperwork etc is provided at no additional cost and is designed to help our labour complete the project at or under budgeted cost. In return for this additional service we expect to be the exclusive agency supplier on that site and the expectation that Ship Shape will supply the majority or all of the labour from agencies.

The Tender/Labour Management Service will usually be offered when we have worked with the client on other projects and the management style of the client is properly understood. Equally, the client have the confidence in Ship Shape’s professionalism and skill both at a management and operative level.

Clients that use this service enjoy a more transparent, effective and profitable relationship than could be expected from any agency.

Labour Transfer

Given the quality and training of the Ship Shape operatives, our clients often request for their permanent transfer on a PAYE or subcontractor basis. This most often occurs when a client has identified the need to restructure their current subcontractor base that may have inadequate skill sets. This way the client also binds in the Operative who may otherwise be placed with other clients paying higher rates.

Where agencies are highly sensitive to what they call “poaching”, Ship Shape openly encourages the practice. Feel free to openly discuss this with your Account Director. Almost without exception, once our clients have taken one operative across onto their direct team they come back again, using us almost as a “try before you buy” recruitment service.