Project Harvest

HARVESTING NEW BLOOD

A creative BiKBBI response to the government sanctioned ‘modernise or die report’ Farmer report.

The BiKBBI has created Project Harvest, which is a proposal from the organisation to its Retail Installation Standards Partners, outlining plans for a collaborative approach to installer recruitment within the KBB industry.

Project Harvest has been formulated in response to The Farmer Report which was published back in October 2016 and it concluded that the construction sector in the UK must ‘modernise or die!’

As a result, in October 2017, in direct response to the Farmer Report, a number of BiKBBI retail partners met in London to discuss the challenge of recruitment. Those present, indicated that recruitment was a commercial priority and that their businesses viewed the priority as a challenge.

BiKBBI Chief Executive Damian Walters, operating under Chatham House Rules, proposed a collaborative approach to address the topic of recruitment, but stressed that “any alliance must protect the commercial interests of those participating retailers.” Walters suggested that perception was clearly a leading factor in the decision-making process of prospective KBB installers and that The British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation could support a solution to combat this blockage.

Damian said: “Whilst the Farmer Report clearly identified dwindling trade resource, I firmly believe that our industry can work together to achieve some quick wins as there are a number of installers we believe can be harvested.” He added, “Together with our medium and longterm initiatives around apprenticeships and retraining, I believe a holistic collaboration between our partners could tap into a currently untouched installer resource and generate 

enough interest to reduce the overall impact of the UK shortage.”

So what is Project Harvest?

The British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom Installation is proposing an alliance between its Retail Installation Standards Partners, to introduce a new and innovative approach to recruitment on behalf of its retail members.

Goals & objectives

The objective of Harvest is to create an online registry for installers to promote the generic benefits of working with retailers, removing any negative perception barriers. The online portal will then harvest installer details to share with those retailers participating in the project.

What is it?

Harvest is an online portal that will be marketed to installers not currently working with current BiKBBI Installation Standards Partners.

Scope

1.BiKBBI Installation Standard Partners are invited to participate in Project Harvest 2. Participation is entirely optional 3. The cost of participation is split between those participating retailers 4. Installer information harvested from the project will only be available to those participating retailers 5. In the event retailers join the project after the initial financial commitment, they will contribute the same financial fee, which can be used to develop project future phases (building a financial pot for use with future marketing / IT development).

Timetable

January 2018: Retailers commit to project (including finances) February 2018: IT Development March 2018: Launch