The true cost of fastener-related installation problems

A belief that no-one needs training to fit a fastener is costing contractors dearly. Feedback from Fixfast customers suggests that an average of 7% of building envelope fasteners are wasted per project. When this is applied to the £133m market value of construction fasteners in the UK, it means a staggering £9.31m fasteners are scrapped each year.

As well as directly impacting the bottom line, poor installation can also lead to delays due to the need to source replacements, time for investigation and in some cases, costly remedial work.

However, this is not the only concern. While fasteners are a small component and equate to just 3% of the construction cost of the average building envelope, they are key to structural integrity. If they fail, so does the whole system.

There is a common misconception that anyone can fit a fastener, but this isn’t the case – we’ve seen incidences where even the most experienced tradesmen are using the wrong tools or techniques. If unchecked, these common pitfalls could lead to building envelope fastener-related installation failure. As the UK’s largest supplier of fasteners for the building envelope, we’ve launched the Skills Hub to address this problem.

The Skills Hub from Fixfast is a free online resource developed to tackle the issues identified by our contractors, installers and OEM partners. It covers a wide range of topics including tooling and installation, technical problems such as corrosion, issues affecting the choice and use of building envelope fasteners, fixing methods for different applications and more.

Unlike other training initiatives, the Skills Hub has been designed with the end-user – the busy installer – in mind. It is free to use and can act as a reference guide when on-site (via mobile or tablet) or in the office (via laptop or desktop).

The Skills Hub content includes answers to common questions, ‘How to’ videos and ‘At a glance’ best practice guides as well as in-depth technical information. It has been designed to complement your existing training activities or can be used as a stand-alone resource.

So start improving your skills (or those of your team) now with the Skills Hub from Fixfast