Interview

Ever been a fitter having a tough time finding jobs? Or a contractor having trouble finding fitters who can cut it (excuse the pun)? First featured in our October issue, Multiwork is a bold new prospect for the flooring industry that could hold the solution. The Flooring Magazine decided to catch up with founder Phil Guck to find out more about the man and his idea.

Phil Guck has had a long and fruitful relationship with the flooring industry, and at the young age of 28 he is now the managing director of Multiwork. This is a new company which Guck’s previous experience in the flooring trade led him to develop. He explained his background: “I started in the flooring industry working for my dad, who was a floor layer for 30 years, during the school summer holidays when I was 13. Once I left college I began work for John Abbott’s, a flooring contractor in Oldham. I was 18 at the time.”

Like many young people leaving school, Guck was faced with a difficult decision about his future. He explained: “I left school without a clue what I wanted to do, my dad said he would get me a job until I knew what I wanted to do for a career.

“My introduction to the flooring/building industry was, I guess, the same as many others, that was, to follow in dad's footsteps. Today’s society doesn’t work like this any more.

“People don’t want their kids to have to graft in what can only really be described as rubbish conditions. They would rather see their children work in an office, behind a computer. Some kids just take the easier option and work in a warm factory, often with little chance of ever progressing their career.”

Despite the misgivings of some parents, Guck recognises the many benefits of working within the flooring industry. He went on to say: “My dad never wanted me to be a floor layer and to be honest once I'd seen some of the conditions neither did I, but what most fail to see is that having a trade behind you offers you so much more. “I’ve always been self employed and I would never do it any other way, since you are your own boss, off somewhere new each day meeting new faces along the way. So my introduction has to be put down to my dad, or to put it another way, blamed on him... thanks dad.”

Both sides of the story

From Guck’s many years working in the flooring industry, an idea came to him, or you could say he recognised a need for something. He commented: “During my time running and owning a contracting company I made a lot of friends, mostly floor layers. Over time you hear many tales about which contractors are bad payers, who the bad subbies are and other idle chat that would often be exaggerated. What you never heard was the other side of the story. The side that gives you the full picture and the truth.

“That’s why I thought about putting together a concept that allowed people to trade fairly and leave reviews for others to make honest decisions about who they work with. Since then Multiwork has been developed and will continue to develop into a mass of information to help contracting companies and subcontractors with their business.”

Guck went on the explain the principles of Multiwork, he said: “Multiwork has been designed to be as simple as possible to use but has the ability to make your working life a whole lot easier. Simply register with the site, tell us whether you are a contracting company or a tradesperson, then work your way through the rest of the site.

“If you are a contracting company you can upload your secured work safely without any of your competitors seeing. Simply tell us where it is, what trade capabilities you require your workers to have, how much you are willing to pay and we will do the rest.

“Likewise if you are a self-employed tradesperson, fill in your profile, tell us what you can do, how far away from home you are willing to work, how much money you are looking for and we will quickly search our database to tell you what jobs are available. The site couldn't be simpler.”

This new site could solve a lot of problems in the flooring industry, as Guck said: “This is a need across the whole building industry to be honest. Word of mouth is by far the best way to vet someone and as I’ve said previously you are only as good as the people that are doing the work for you. If your workforce is mainly self-employed there is a tendency to change your workers on a weekly basis determined by their availability. With Multiwork you will have the piece of mind to know who you are working with but also be able to call on thousands of others at the last minute should you be let down.”

Even though Multiwork is still a relatively new idea, it has been well received across the flooring industry. When asked about its reception Guck said: “So far I have not had a negative comment about the site. Once we start talking about the main aim of the site, which is to encourage safer trading with the self-employed market and sift out the ‘cowboys’, it gets the thumbs up without fail.

However, with the added benefits we plan to develop, which include the potential to work abroad for a few weeks at a time and the development of a trade counter service where members will be able to buy industry recognised products but also source cheaper equivalant alternatives, people start to see just how unique Multiwork really is.”

Guck is not just looking at the here and now when he is thinking about Multiwork, he has a number of ideas as to how he will develop the site over time. One aspect of this is Multiwork Apprenticeships.

“The idea of Multiwork Apprenticeships is to get kids back into trades. With the 2012 Olympics only a few years away and with many foreign workers being drawn back to their own countries there will soon be a lack of qualified and experienced tradesmen. This scheme will give school leavers opportunities they probably didn’t know even existed.”

Multiwork is looking for both contracting companies and floor layers to join to site. If you want to know more about how it works, or see the site for yourself you can register online at www.multiwork.co.uk.

When you register at www.multiwork.co.uk, use the code TFM200 to receive a three month free trial.