Business View Caribbean | August 2022

85 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 8 GH CONSTRUCT ION CO. LTD . (GHC) Instead, the sand is quarried. The main source of sand in Barbados, Walker’s Quarry, has now been completely depleted and the private sector has been forced to import sand from Guyana. “As you can imagine, that has caused the price of sand to skyrocket,” Hopkin admits. “Everything ever built on this island was made with mortars or concrete from sand that was quarried in Barbados and now there is none of that left. On such a small island, it’s cause for major concern. You’re relying on a small number of aggregate producers and there are two main companies that are importing it now– one of those is Ready Mix. We have a great relationship with Ready Mix, they’ve been providing us with concrete for the entire history of our company. That’s 36 years, which is very long time for a construction company on this island.” The rising cost of construction is a big cause for concern for GHC and with the strength of the sterling declining in the U.K., Hopkin says they are starting to see signs that people might not be as interested in building high-end homes as they were before. He adds, “Also, there aren’t as many government-funded jobs as we would have expected here. So there are a lot of challenges for cash flow.” With that in mind, GHC has now refocused efforts on a two-year plan, which is to have the majority of its portfolio be born out of the company’s own housing development work. This usually consists of mid to high-end, semi- detached townhouses, which GHC develops. As Hopkin attests, “Those are much easier to sell when margins are far higher, as compared to the competitive invitation-to-tender process, where you’re basically pricing work based on a bill of quantities supplied by the client’s quantity surveyor. It’s very competitive – all based on what rates you’re willing to go in with. You’re not really judged on the quality of the work that you’ve done and your track record. Yes, that is a consideration, but what’s driving the price down is that there are new entrants (other