Many roofs have recently been destroyed due to bad weather in different areas in mid-June.
Despite the high demand, the repairs are being carried out in a context of shortage of tiles which penalizes both the victims and the professionals in the sector.
“
We are forced to tarp in an emergency and put on weights, but we refuse a lot of requests for repairs, so as not to make customers wait 6 or 9 months.
explains the manager of Les Couvreurs de Bordeaux.
Read alsoBertille Bayart: “
This upcoming Russian gas shortage
”
A crisis that does not date from yesterday
This shortage is the result of a combination of several factors, the first being the health crisis which kept the production of many factories stopped during the confinement.
“
Shortages of tiles date back to long before bad weather.
With the Covid, the production lines have been completely stopped
, ”sums up the Bordeaux manager.
The war in Ukraine has compounded the problem.
Sanctions on Russian gas combined with rising gas prices have caused the slowdown, or even the complete shutdown, of tile makers' kilns.
Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, the ovens used by manufacturers for firing tiles operate on gas.
But craftsmen accuse some producers of artificially increasing the price of tiles.
“
One wonders if the manufacturers are not intentionally creating a shortage in order to be able to increase the price of the tiles.
The prices of building materials such as tiles and bricks have doubled since the beginning of the year... If the factories were running day and night, we would be able to have deliveries on time and on time
», Laments the president of the roofers section of the CAPEB Pas-de-Calais.
Added to these successive crises are the recruitment problems faced by craftsmen for several years.
“
Staff are sorely lacking.
We've been looking for it for 4 years and we can't find it.
There is a great lack of training and incentive for the younger generations to work in the crafts sector.
analyzes the roofer.
Read alsoCritical metals: the specter of a generalized shortage recedes
"For the craftsmen, (...) there is nothing left"
Faced with these shortages, professionals in the sector must take measures: trim their margins, increase their prices or even place their employees on partial unemployment.
"
I even know bosses who have put their employees on leave
," observes the craftsman.
“
The only way out was to plan as soon as possible.
I ordered large stocks last year.
Today, you have to order 6 months in advance to get tiles on time.
".
The roofer also denounces the fact that this situation mainly affects craftsmen and has less of an impact on the big brands.
“
There are still stocks of tiles for the big distributors but for the craftsmen, for us, there is nothing left.
The artisans of the sector hope that the situation could gradually unblock from the beginning of next year.
“
We think that in January 2023 things should go back to normal.
We will have lost almost a year... It's a year that will cost a lot of craftsmen dearly.
he concludes.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
