Robert Merry, an independent Stone Consultant and Project Manager who ran his own company for 17 years and now also runs training courses on project management, gives his personal slant on the stone industry

A very Merry Christmas to you all. There’s been a change to this column brought on by the Editor, who wants me to write about what I’ve been up to and with who each month. He thinks it might be interesting for you to be able to follow my stone life. So if you have a juicy bit of information you think I should know about, please get in touch. I don’t promise to include all your news – I can’t afford solicitors fees – but where I can I will.

This month I thought I would reflect on some of the high and low lights of our year in contracting.

So where did you start the year and where will you finish it? We were greeted in January with the collapse of the construction market in Dubai, possibly the one place in the world we all thought was recession proof – what with all that black runny stuff we consume with such voracity.

Not many of us were directly affected in the stone industry, but the news had repercussions in the UK. Yet more confidence drained away. If the Middle East was no longer immune, what hope for the rest of us?

Banks spent most of the year raising the lending barrier even higher, with reports of good, solid companies being refused the finance to keep going. The pain that had inflicted itself on the rest of the construction industry in 2008 finally caught up with us. We were still engaged in work which had been booked in for months, but where was the next job coming from now?

If you survived one of the coldest Januarys on record, both in climate and financially, than you could look forward to a general election.

Out with New Labour, in with new Conservatives. The same old Conservatives but tinged with orange? The cuts are deep and we are all likely to be in need of a transfusion before the end of 2011. Perhaps we have to survive with less – whether that’s money, blood, a new school, a further education, a house, a local service or aircraft carriers without aircraft. Take your pick.

Maybe we should be cutting back on natural stone too. “I apologise madam / sir, for the lack of stone in your kitchen / floor / bathroom, but due to the economic climate, we are doing our bit for the nation and making cuts to all our orders. If you would like to make a cut to the value of the cheque, we will understand… oh, you were going to do that anyway. Merry Christmas to you, too.”

One contractor has been ‘outed’ for demanding discounts from suppliers under contract. Apologies have been made by the transgressors, but other contractors are still pressurising their supply chains for discounts. They come in several forms. There are demands for payments to be included on a tender list or discounts requested on the promise of future work.

Oh yeah, and the cheque’s in the post! Code for “give us a discount or we will use someone else”.

It is as if January never finished, and when it eventually does we’re going to miss out the rest of the year and just have January all over again.

But from the depths of recession springs hope and, I hear, new stone businesses abound, rising from the ashes of forced unemployment or Administrations. A new generation – leaner and meaner? Or simply willing to bend over backwards just that little bit further?

Good luck in the New Year and hold tight. Politicians are pick-pocketing our wallets as they assure us the ‘seeds of recovery’ have been sown.

Don’t forget to let me hear your news.

Robert Merry ran his own stone company for 17 years and is now an independent Stone Consultant and Project Manager. He also delivers training programmes on all aspects of Estimating and Project Management – details and dates on the website (address below).

Tel: 0207 502 6353 / 07771 997621

robertmerry@stoneconsultants.co.uk