This got brought up on the German public news this morning....via a report from the ZDH (Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks)....the folks who review craftsmanship in Germany.
If you have some job that has come up in your house (installation of windows, replacement of a sink, masonary work).....then the waiting time now is around ten weeks, and it's growing.
Chief reason? Well, it goes to two situations: a shortage of younger apprentice kids, and the growing amount of work-load going on for the companies that exist.
My German wife had a electrical project from two years ago....amounting to around forty hours of a professional electrician. After reviewing the project, the guy in question accepted the job but laid out the waiting time (it'd be six weeks before he could get to the first part of the project), and with the division of the work....he cautioned that he wouldn't be done for at least four months. Yes, he was going to do four man-hours here, two man-hours there, and so-on. Six months from the first day of work....he had yet to complete the project. He was basically going from project to project over an entire week, and there had to be a minimum of fifteen different jobs going on. Just in driving time, he was wasting at least eight man-hours a week, but you couldn't tell the guy how stupid this was.
A national trend? There's talk of some reform (yet to come) where craftsmanship certificates will be easier to achieve. Some question this....that you'd end up with half-trained carpenters or tile-guys.
Personally, I think more self-help jobs will be the result out of this trend.
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