Sixty percent of Czech construction companies are pushing their prices closer to the industry’s so-called safety limit, which threatens the quality of the projects going up in the country, according to CEEC Research. The data shows 7 percent of companies are already below the limit, while 34 percent are still above. Speculation over project risks stemming from these excessive cost savings were raised after an accident at a construction site in Slovakia, where four workers died and an additional 12 were injured.
“A number of directors of construction companies agree that the current recession and lack of orders forces the investors into extreme cost-cutting, leading to low quality of construction,” said CEEC Research Director Jiří Vacek. He warns that in the long-term this will lead to increased costs of repairs and maintenance. According to CEEC Research, 24 percent of all construction companies and 40 percent of project designers in the Czech Republic have admitted to lowering quality levels in order to stay competitive.
